Prevention of Weight Gain Following a Worksite Nutrition and Exercise Program

Abstract

Background Many employers are now providing wellness programs to help employees make changes in diet and exercise behaviors. Improving health outcomes and reducing costs will depend on whether employees sustain lifestyle changes and maintain a healthy weight over time. Purpose To determine if a 9-month maintenance intervention immediately following a 10-week worksite exercise and nutrition program would prevent regain of the weight lost during the program. Design RCT. Setting/participants In 2008, a total of 330 employees from 24 teams completed a 10-week exercise and nutrition program at a large hospital worksite and were randomized by team to maintenance or control (usual care) for 9 months. Intervention Internet support with a website for goal-setting and self-monitoring of weight and exercise plus minimal personal support. Main outcome measures Weight loss, percentage weight loss, time spent in physical activity, and frequency of consumption of fruits/vegetables, fatty foods, and sugary foods at 1 year compared to baseline. One-year follow-up was completed in 2010, and data were analyzed in 2011. Results At 1 year, 238 subjects (72%) completed follow-up assessments. Mean baseline BMI was 27.6 and did not differ between intervention and control. Compared to baseline, both groups lost weight during the 10-week program and maintained 65% of weight loss at 1 year (p<0.001). There was no difference in weight loss between groups at end of the 10-week program (4.8 lbs vs 4.3 lbs, p=0.53 for group×time interaction) or end of maintenance at 1 year (3.4 lbs vs 2.5 lbs, p=0.40 for group×time interaction). All subjects had improvements in physical activity and nutrition (increased fruits/vegetables and decreased fat and sugar intake) at 1 year but did not differ by group. Conclusions An intensive 10-week team-based worksite exercise and nutrition program resulted in moderate weight loss and improvements in diet and exercise behaviors at 1 year, but an Internet-based maintenance program immediately following the 10-week program did not improve these outcomes.

The Effect of Goal Setting on Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Physical Activity Level in a Web-Based Intervention

“…This is similar to other studies (17)(18)(19)(20)(21). The drop down menu is a limitation in this study because the goal options for physical activity far exceeded the recommendations whereas goal options for fruit and vegetable intake provided a maximum that was equal to recommendations.…”

“…While the analysis of the data for this study took place at the University of Rhode Island, the data was collected from eight participating institutions around the country. 20,30,45,60,75,90,105,120,135,150,165, or 180+ minutes (on average) per day. In addition there was an option for don't know/not sure minutes of exercise (subjects choosing this option were excluded from exercise analyses).…”

“…This could be one reason that some studies find goal setting to be an effective intervention while others do not (17)(18)(19)(20)(21).…”

“…Studies by Sternfeld et al, Dishman et al, and Heneman et al used goal setting as one component of an intervention and found significant increases in fruit and vegetable consumption and/or physical activity level (17)(18)(19). On the other hand, studies by Thorndike et al and Latif et al did not find goal setting to be an effective intervention (20)(21). The research in these areas is even more limited for the young adult population.…”

A Systematic Review of Internet-Based Worksite Wellness Approaches for Cardiovascular Disease Risk Management: Outcomes, Challenges & Opportunities

“…Among the high quality studies, less than half (7) reported significant improvement in any weight related outcome[12], [14], [16], [22], [23], [26], [29]. The same number of high quality studies reported no significant change in the outcomes[15], [17], [20], [21], [24], [25], [27] while the last high quality study reported worsening of the outcome, in this case an increase in body fat[28]. One of the trials [15] with no significant intervention effect was a 2 year follow-up on a study [26] that showed a significant reduction in weight-related outcomes at 6 months.…”