TITLE:
Attitudes towards, and methods of, maintaining or losing body weight among adults
AUTHORS:
Peter Buzzacott, Sarah French, Lisa Wood, Michael Rosenberg
KEYWORDS:
Body Mass Index; Body Weight Changes; Obesity; Overweight
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.5 No.3,
March
7,
2013
ABSTRACT: To investigate
motivators and strategies of adult weight loss or management, 1805 adults aged
18 - 65 were asked by computer assisted telephone interviews about their weight
management behavior during the previous four weeks. High levels of importance
to reduce risks associated with chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease
and diabetes were observed, although were indistinguishable between people attempting or not attempting to lose or maintain weight. Results showed that BMI was
the strongest predictor of attempting to manage weight irrespective of age
and, compared with males, females were more likely to attempt weight management
at a lower BMI. Among the weight management group, the most popular weight
management strategy was to choose healthier food options (77% and 70% for
females and males respectively). With the weight management group also more
likely to be monitoring the amount of food they consume, limiting portions
sizes and tracking their physical activity participation compared with
people not managing their weight. The current study showed that the likelihood
of weight management within four weeks prior to the survey peaked for both
sexes when BMI reached obese levels, (BMI = 30 - 39.9), suggesting that among
people categorised as obese most were attempting to manage their weight. The
results also suggest that at least some adults were not attempting to maintain
their weight in the four weeks prior to the survey, irrespective of their BMI
status. The implications of these
findings suggest more effective approaches to weight loss and maintenance
could focus on strategies that directly address the benefits and motivations of
weight loss and weight maintenance, rather than focusing on conveying the risks
of being overweight and the importance of avoiding chronic disease.