Long-Distance Coaching For Weight Loss Works!

Surprisingly enough it appears that long-distance coaching in terms of weight loss, whether telephone or email are actually quite effective in terms of both initial pounds lost and maintenance of such weight loss, according to a November 24, 2008 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. While the study was confined to rural societies, the findings that individuals respond as well to distance coaching is extremely encouraging for weight loss specialists who desire to help others outside their immediate or nearby locality, as well as for clients who wish to contain expenses associated with dieting.

The study conducted by Michael G. Perri, Ph.D., of the University of Florida, Gainesville involved a randomized trial involving 234 obese women (aged 50 to 75) who completed a six-month weight loss program. The women were randomly assigned to three different extended-care programs consisting of 26 bi-weekly sessions for one year; 72 participants received telephone counseling, 83 received on-site counseling and 79 received bi-weekly newsletters containing weight loss maintenance techniques.

The average weight at the beginning of the study was 212.5 pounds, while the average weight lost during the six-month intervention was 22 pounds. One year after the randomization of the women into the three different programs, the participants in the telephone program regained only 2.5 pounds as compared to those clients in the education control group, who gained an average of 8.2 pounds.

The authors noted that: “our findings highlight the benefits of extended-care interventions and indicate that telephone counseling represents an effective and cost-efficient approach to the management of obesity in underserved rural settings”.

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