(RxWiki News) A new behavioral treatment for obesity may help patients lose more weight and keep it off longer than the standard behavioral treatment, a new study found.
This study looked at the effect of acceptance-based behavioral treatment (ABT) compared to that of standard behavioral treatment (SBT) in 190 people who were overweight or obese.
In SBT and ABT, health professionals encourage patients to reduce their calorie intake and increase their physical activity to lose weight.
In SBT, patients learn to change one's thoughts to modify behavior and cope with food cravings through distraction.
In ABT, patients choose goals from personal life values such as living a long and healthy life. In addition, patients learn how cues affect decision-making about eating and physical activity. ABT also includes the understanding that weight-control behaviors can produce discomfort (such as cravings and fatigue) and a reduction of pleasure (such as choosing to walk instead of watching TV).
In the current study, patients who received ABT lost 13.3 percent of their body weight over one year. For patients who received SBT, that figure was 9.8 percent.
And patients who received ABT were more likely than those who received SBT to have maintained at least a 10 percent weight loss at one year, these researchers found.
Talk to your doctor about how to maintain a healthy weight.
This study was published in the journal Obesity.
A grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases funded this research. Two study authors contributed to books about ABT. One author received personal fees from Health Outcome Solutions outside the published work.
