Healthy you: Outcomes of a group weight loss intervention in primary care

Objectives: The Healthy You Program was developed by dietitians to address the large demand for weight loss counseling in primary care.

Methods: The program consists of eleven one-hour weekly sessions facilitated by a dietitian. Inclusion criteria were BMI>27 and no concurrent individual nutrition counseling. Pre- and post-data collection included the Paul Stress and Well Being inventories. Self-reported data included 3-day food records, body weight monitoring and minutes of exercise completed per week.

Results: 6 sessions with 84 participants have completed to date. Overall mean improvements include: Paul Stress (46[Symbol Not Transcribed] [plus or minus]14 to 42[Symbol Not Transcribed] [plus or minus]12)**, Well Being (63[Symbol Not Transcribed] [plus or minus]18 to 69[Symbol Not Transcribed] [plus or minus]20)**, weight(kg) (100.5[Symbol Not Transcribed] [plus or minus]22 to 96.4[Symbol Not Transcribed] [plus or minus]21)***, kcal/d (1705[Symbol Not Transcribed] [plus or minus]426 to 1440[Symbol Not Transcribed] [plus or minus]271)***, g fat/d (46[Symbol Not Transcribed] [plus or minus]18 to 31[Symbol Not Transcribed] [plus or minus]18)***, g fibre/d (14[Symbol Not Transcribed] [plus or minus]6 to 18[Symbol Not Transcribed] [plus or minus]7)**. There was also a trend towards an increase in minutes of exercise per week (173[Symbol Not Transcribed] [plus or minus]108 to 219[Symbol Not Transcribed] [plus or minus]137, p=0.07). Participant satisfaction was consistently positive with the exception of the lack of an exercise component. Dietitians also enjoyed facilitating the sessions.

Conclusions: This type of service delivery in primary care is effective and is satisfying for participants and dietitians. **p<0.05, ***p<0.001