Effectiveness of a structured commercial dieting program on weight control

摘要: Background and Aim: Overweight and obesity are seriously growing health problems. The goals of a successful weight loss and management program should be to reduce body weight, and to maintain a lower body weight over the long period of time. The commercial dieting program is a structured healthy eating program, which consists of a 4 phase structured individual nutrition plan. Aim of this study was to assess effectiveness of the program on the weight control, and maintenance of weight loss achieved during dieting. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study, conducted on the participants of the program, followed between years of 2009-2011 in Turkey. The total number of the participants was 768. A phone call was made to all the participants. Totally 520 participants answered the call and 270 accepted to participate in the study. Ten questions were asked to all participants about their current weight, how many kilograms they lost during dieting, duration and level of adherence to the program, and their opinions about the program. Results: Mean age of the participants was 43±12.2 years. Baseline body mass index was 35.5±6.8 kg/m2; there was no difference between males and females (p= 0.528; t=-0.632). In contrast to males who lost an average of 14.2±9.1 kg, females lost 10.8±6.4 kg (t= 2.9, p= 0.04). After the program, both males and females reduced their body mass index significantly (p< 0.05). Twothird of the participants reported that the benefits of the program were worth the cost.Conclusions: The commercial nutrition program is effective for weight reduction and for maintaining weight, easy to comply, and worth the cost. It is …