Abstract
BackgroundOver sixty percent of adults in the UK are now overweight/obese. Weight management on a national scale requires behavioural and lifestyle solutions that are accessible to large numbers of people. Evidence suggests commercial weight management programmes help people manage their weight but there is little research examining those that pay to attend such programmes rather than being referred by primary care. The objective of this analysis was to evaluate the effectiveness of a UK commercial weight management programme in self-referred, fee-paying participants.MethodsElectronic weekly weight records were collated for self-referred, fee-paying participants of Slimming World groups joining between January 2010 and April 2012. This analysis reports weight outcomes in 1,356,105 adult, non-pregnant participants during their first 3 months’ attendance. Data were analysed by regression, ANOVA and for binomial outcomes, chi-squared tests using the R statistical program.ResultsMean (SD) age was 42.3 (13.6) years, height 1.65 m (0.08) and start weight was 88.4 kg (18.8). Mean start BMI was 32.6 kg/m2 (6.3 kg/m2) and 5 % of participants were men. Mean weight change of all participants was −3.9 kg (3.6), percent weight change −4.4 (3.8), and BMI change was −1.4 kg/m2 (1.3). Mean attendance was 7.8 (4.3) sessions in their first 3 months. For participants attending at least 75 % of possible weekly sessions (n = 478,772), mean BMI change was −2.5 kg/m2 (1.3), weight change −6.8 kg (3.7) and percent weight change −7.5 % (3.5).Weight loss was greater in men than women absolutely (−6.5 (5.3) kg vs −3.8 (3.4) kg) and as a percentage (5.7 % (4.4) vs 4.3 % (3.7)), respectively. All comparisons were significant (p < 0.001). Level of attendance and percent weight loss in the first week of attendance together accounted for 55 % of the variability in weight lost during the study period.ConclusionsA large-scale commercial lifestyle-based weight management programme had a significant impact on weight loss outcomes over 3 months. Higher levels of attendance led to levels of weight loss known to be associated with significant clinical benefits, which on this scale may have an impact on public health.
Highlights
Over sixty percent of adults in the United Kingdom (UK) are overweight/obese
Excluding all subjects who only attended one week and recorded no weight change (n = 91,814), mean weight change was −4.2 kg (3.6), percent weight change −4.7 % (3.7), mean body mass index (BMI) change was −1.5 kg/m2 (1.3) and mean attendance was 8.2 (4.0). 478,772 (35.3 %) of participants attended at least 75 % of sessions and 877,333 (64.7 %) were classified as lower
Further analysis comparing performance of the three main commercial providers and a National Health Service programme in the UK found the commercial providers lead to significantly greater weight loss at 3 and 12 months and that Slimming World led to significantly greater weight loss at 12 months than the reference standard used [20]
Summary
Over sixty percent of adults in the UK are overweight/obese. Weight management on a national scale requires behavioural and lifestyle solutions that are accessible to large numbers of people. Obesity prevention and management at the individual level requires support to facilitate, encourage and motivate people to make behaviour changes that will lead to healthier diets, greater participation in physical activity and help manage the stresses that can undermine the adoption of more healthful behaviours [9]. At the level of the general population obesity prevention and management requires solutions that are embedded in the community to encourage sustainable lifestyle changes in larger numbers of people. Key public health challenges for obesity prevention and treatment lie in engaging the general population to participate in modifying their behaviour, sustaining these changes to navigate to a healthier lifestyle in the long-term (i.e. relapse prevention and weight loss maintenance) and scaling these approaches across the nation through individual and community involvement.
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