People Continue to Set Unrealistic Expectations For Weight Loss, Study Finds

Physician/Patient Relationship Plus Focus on Health, Not Appearance, Is Key to Success

Long Beach, CA – November 1, 2000 A study presented today at the annual meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) suggests that patients continue to set weight loss goals that are unattainable, even when counseled, resulting in disappointment and perceptions of failure. The finding demonstrates the need for increased education among patients and physicians about how to redefine success by setting expectations focused on health benefits rather than appearance.

"This study underscores patients continued desire to lose much more weight than can be achieved by the best behavioral and pharmacological treatments available today. It is important for physicians to emphasize and reiterate to patients that a 10 percent weight loss is a treatment success," said Leslie Womble, Ph.D., lead investigator and instructor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Penn. "Practitioners should work with patients to readjust expectations with a focus on health to avoid what patients label as 'another failed weight loss attempt.'"

The study was designed to determine whether patients' weight loss expectations change when they were informed about how much they could expect to lose in one year of lifestyle modification combined with medication (sibutramine). The 53 women included in the study completed a questionnaire asking them how much weight they expected to lose after 4, 12, 26 and 52 weeks of treatment. In a meeting with an investigator, women were told they could expect to lose 5 to 15 percent of their initial weight during treatment. This fact was repeated in two separate sections of the consent form. After signing the consent form, the women completed a second questionnaire on their weight loss expectations. Patients' weight loss essentially remained unchanged, with patients expecting to lose weight at a faster rate than is realistic. The only reduction in weight loss expectations before and after counseling was seen after 52-weeks with patients predicting that they would lose 25 percent vs. 28 percent of their starting weight. "Obesity is a serious disease in the U.S. that carries severe health risks," said Arthur Campfield, Ph.D., vice president of NAASO and department head and professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the College of Applied Human Sciences at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Co. "There is clear clinical evidence that a modest weight loss of 5 to 10 percent can improve risk factors for diabetes and heart disease, including high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. People whose weight puts their health at risk should seek help from their physician to set realistic expectations for weight loss that will reduce their future health risks."