10 proven strategies to help patients maintain weight loss
Patients’ chances of keeping off weight long-term improve with evidence-based interventions, such as a sound diet, more exercise, and attention to more thoughtful eating habits.
PRACTICE RECOMMENDATIONS
› Encourage patients to lose more weight early in their effort, which is predictive of successful long-term maintenance. B
› Support patients’ efforts to maintain weight loss by encouraging them to consume fewer calories and eat more nonglycemic fruits and vegetables A, eat at home and avoid processed foods B, work with you in addressing mental health concerns B, and increase time spent exercising A.
› Consider the potential value of prescribing a US Food and Drug Administration–indicated medication for weight maintenance. B
Strength of recommendation (SOR)
A Good-quality patient-oriented evidence
B Inconsistent or limited-quality patient-oriented evidence
C Consensus, usual practice, opinion, disease-oriented evidence, case series
Most patients do need counseling on whole grain intake: Explaining that a bagel is the same as 4 servings of toast and that a cup (ie, a fistful) of cooked pasta is 3 servings of grains is helpful. Patients should aim for 1 serving of grain at each meal; when shopping for grains, they should choose those that have the “whole” first on the list of ingredients because whole grain, rather than refined grain, intake is associated with less diabetes and colon cancer.16
5.
Self-monitoring is key to weight maintenance. This can mean weighing oneself or tracking one’s food intake (or both). Daily weighing is important: A study showed that patients who decrease how often they weigh themselves were likely to eat more and thus gain weight.17
Monitoring intake is also important. Recommended online calorie counters (eg, myfitnesspal.com, loseit.com), tools such as a Fitbit, or even keeping a food diary to help patients track intake. In a review of technology-based interventions to maintain weight loss, the use of apps was variable and effectiveness of devices was mixed. The authors recommended that physicians complement Web-based applications with personal contact.18
6. Encourage patients to spend more time exercising
After weight loss is achieved, maintaining a high level of activity is important. Recommendations focus on moving about 1 hr/d or 200 to 300 min/wk.19 A program of several daily “bouts,” or episodes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, is recommended in the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines19 and might be preferable, or equivalent, to a concentrated expenditure of energy. Patients might consider, for example, a 10-minute session, 4 times a day, 5 days a week, instead of a single, 40-minute session, 5 days a week.19 Furthermore, to sustain weight loss, moderate exercise might be more effective than exercise of vigorous intensity or extended duration.19 Most patients in the NWCR report that walking is their principal form of activity.1
Resistance training, which improves muscle strength and endurance, with or without diet restriction, has not been shown to be effective for weight loss but might help with weight maintenance and might improve a patient’s lipid profile, insulin resistance, and blood pressure. In obese adolescents, resistance weight training led to positive changes in body composition, such as decreased waist circumference.20 Resistance training likely enhances weight maintenance and should be encouraged because of its effect on increasing lean muscle mass, the most important factor in determining basal metabolic rate.
Continue to: 7. Work with patients to ensure sound sleep hygiene
