Weight Loss without Worry

     This article first appeared in Today’s Diet and Nutrition, Winter 2006.

     For individuals who don’t have time or money to enroll in a traditional weight-loss program and for those who live too far from weight centers, patient counseling by telephone appears to be a good alternative.  Joe Donnelly, EdD, director of Kansas University’s Center for Physical Activity and Weight Management, conducted a 26-week randomized study of individuals who participated in a phone program and those who attended a clinic-based program.

     Preliminary data show that those in the phone-based program lost nearly as much as those receiving counseling services in the traditional manner.  Those who received counseling by telephone lost an average of 23 pounds in 12 weeks and 28 pounds over 26 weeks, while those in the clinic-based program lost 28 pounds in 12 weeks and 28 pounds in 26 weeks.  (The last 14 weeks focused on maintenance of weight lost in the first 12 weeks.)  both groups followed the same 1,200 calorie diet, including calorie-controlled meal replacements and increased servings of vegetables and fruits, had weekly physical activity levels that equaled or exceeded the new USDA "Pyramid" diet guidelines, and each had weekly group counseling. 

     Says Donnelly, phone programs may be a boon for many.  They’re less expensive, they don’t conflict with work and family commitments, and they save users the time and expense of having to go to a clinic.