Early weight loss predicts weight loss treatment response regardless of binge‐eating disorder status and pretreatment weight change

Abstract

Participants with early weight loss were more likely to continue losing weight, regardless of BED status or treatment condition. The results highlight the importance of early dedication to weight loss treatment to increase the likelihood of positive outcomes.

Early weight loss in a standalone mHealth intervention predicting treatment success

“…In contrast, over 8 in 10 participants who did not respond early to treatment were unsuccessful in achieving 5% weight loss at 3 or 6 months. These findings illustrate the importance of early weight loss, which is consistent with past studies of behavioural interventions for weight loss . The GoalTracker trial is the first study to demonstrate this relation in the context of a standalone mHealth intervention, which holds promise as a less resource‐intensive and more scalable initial intervention strategy in stepped‐care approaches.…”

“…While later time points of assessing early weight loss (e.g. in months 2 and 3) are also predictive of overall weight loss , past trials have found that intervening with non‐responders at 3 months post‐randomization does not translate to improved outcomes , perhaps reflecting that waiting longer to intervene may be ineffective among those who feel discouraged about their poor early treatment response. Our findings support previous research that suggests 1 month may be an advantageous point at which to intervene and that engagement likely drives early weight loss success .…”

“…those without a counselling component) (3)(4)(5). Early weight loss is a robust predictor of clinically meaningful weight loss (6)(7)(8) and has been used as a trigger in stepped-care behavioural interventions to implement rescue efforts for individuals not responding early to obesity treatment (6,(9)(10)(11). A 12-week internet-based weight loss study found a strong positive relation of early weight loss at 1 month predicting weight loss at 3, 6 and 12 months (12).…”

Increases in physical activity are associated with a faster rate of weight loss during dietary energy restriction in women with overweight and obesity

“…Several studies have reported that WL in the first weeks of an intervention (2-6 weeks) is a predictor of longer-term total WL [36][37][38] Accepted manuscript participants that lost more weight in the first 4 weeks, lost more weight at week 14 (r 2 =0.61; p<0.001) and presented a faster rate of WL [38]. In the current study, a faster rate of WL during the first two weeks of energy restriction and a decrease in sedentary time during the first 2 weeks were associated with a faster mean rate of WL during the total energy restriction period.…”

Pretreatment and During-Treatment Weight Trajectories in Black and White Women

“…Although pretreatment weight changes may influence treatment efficacy, findings are mixed, which is likely because of variations in how treatment outcomes are defined relative to the pretreatment period. [2][3][4]8,17 Some studies use weight measured during screening or baseline visits as the starting weight when quantifying weightrelated treatment outcomes, 2,8 which is problematic because pretreatment weight change (the potential predictor) is included within the calculation of weight loss in response to treatment (the outcome). 2 Others have used weight measured at the first treatment session as the starting weight, 3,4 which may be more appropriate to clarify the impact of pretreatment weight fluctuations on treatment responses because it separates pretreatment and during-treatment weight changes.…”