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Published on: May 8, 2018
Regular self-weighing to promote weight maintenance after intentional weight loss: a quasi-randomized controlled
Claire D Madigan1, Paul Aveyard2, Kate Jolly1
1School of Health and Population Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
Background:
Many overweight people take action to lose weight but most regain this weight.
Purpose:
To examine the effectiveness of a weight maintenance intervention focused on regular self-weighing after receiving a 12-week weight loss programme.
Methods:
Quasi-randomized controlled trial of 3768 obese or overweight men and women. The intervention group (n = 3290) received two telephone calls, the offer of free weighing scales, encouragement to weigh themselves weekly and record this on a card. The main outcome was change in weight between 3 and 12 months.
Results:
Using intention to treat analysis both groups regained weight; however, the intervention group on average regained 1.23 kg, whereas the control group regained 1.83 kg. Adjusting for covariates resulted in a mean difference of 0.68 kg (95% CI 0.12, 1.24) at 12-month follow-up.
Conclusions:
Encouraging people who have recently lost weight to weigh themselves regularly prevents some weight regain.
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