Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows how difficult, time-consuming, and expensive it can be. But a UNC study shows that weight-loss programs can be fun, cheap, and effective.
For more than two years the university’s Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention studied weight loss in 143 low-income and mid-life women at a community health center in Wilmington, North Carolina. Fifty-four percent of the women in the group lost an average of 9.5 pounds or more during the 16-week weight-loss phase of the study.
“That is a really good outcome,” says Carmen Samuel-Hodge, who led the study. “That’s over four percent of their body weight.” The average participant’s weight at the beginning of the study was 201 pounds.
In the study, which was called Weight-Wise, researchers worked with women to find affordable and practical ways to improve eating habits, increase daily physical activity, and manage stress and busy schedules. The researchers gave the participants low-calorie, healthful recipes that incorporated affordable ingredients and seven daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Researchers also gave the women videotapes of indoor walking exercises and encouraged the women to incorporate more movement and exercise into their daily routines. After the weight-loss phase came a year during which the participants worked to maintain their new, lower weight.
Last fall Samuel-Hodge received another three-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to take the study a step further. Researchers will expand Weight-Wise to include 240 women in 6 North Carolina health departments, and then measure how much weight the women lose in a five-month period.
Even a modest eight-pound weight loss can lead to healthier hearts, improved blood pressure, and lower risk of heart disease, Samuel-Hodge says. She believes the program worked because the sessions fit busy women’s schedules.
“The women liked it because they could come at times that were good for them,” she says, “and they were in an atmosphere that was conducive to learning how to change their behaviors.”
Deborah Neffa was a student who formerly contributed to Endeavors.
Carmen Samuel-Hodge is a research assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition in the School of Public Health. The Weight-Wise study was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.