Maintenance-tailored therapy vs. standard behavior therapy for 30-month maintenance of weight loss

To assess differences in weight regain one year after an 18-month obesity treatment with standard behavior therapy (SBT) or maintenance-tailored therapy for obesity (MTT).

213 obese adult volunteers were treated for 18 months using SBT with fixed behavioral prescriptions or MTT that employed varied behavioral prescriptions with treatment breaks. Follow-up analysis focused on weight maintenance after a year of no contact. The trial was conducted at the University of Minnesota between 2005 and 2009.

Mean (SD) weight change between 18 and 30 months for participants in the SBT group was +4.1 kg (4.4) compared to +2.8 kg (4.5) in the MTT group. This is a 31% reduction in weight regain in MTT relative to SBT (p=0.078). This trend toward better maintenance in MTT versus SBT was due primarily to superior differential maintenance in MTT participants in the highest tertile of total weight loss at 18 months, i.e. MTT participants in this tertile regained 4 kg less than SBT participants between 18 and 30 months.

The MTT approach with varied content and timing produced more desirable patterns of weight loss maintenance than the traditional SBT approach, especially among individuals who had achieved greater initial weight loss.