The Impact of Incentives on Weight Control in Men: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Overweight and obese men were recruited to a 6-month, randomized controlled weight loss trial, which compared the Gutbusters weight loss program alone to the Gutbusters program with incentives for successful weight loss. The intervention was delivered primarily online, with weekly in-person weight collections. Gutbusters was designed using a template from the REFIT intervention and encouraged participants (N = 102, 47.0 ± 12.3 years, 32.5 kg/m²) to make six 100-calorie changes to their typical daily diet for a total of 42 changes per week. Weight loss was significantly greater in the Gutbusters+Incentive group compared to the Gutbusters alone group at both 12 and 24 weeks (p's = < .01). The Gutbusters+Incentive group's a mean weight loss was 9.9 pounds at 12 weeks (95% CI: 6.9, 12.9) and 8.4 pounds at 24 weeks (95% CI: 3.9, 13.0). The Gutbusters alone group mean weight loss was 3.7 pounds at 12 weeks (95% CI: -.06, 7.5) and 3.4 pounds at 24 weeks (95% CI: -2.2, 9.0). This study adds to the literature of behavioral weight programs that are designed for men. Unlike the majority of previous male weight loss interventions, which were designed with an intervention comparison to a no treatment or waitlist control, Gutbusters was implemented as a comparative effectiveness trial, which will help bolster the evidence base for real-world application.