Lifestyle Education for Activity and Nutrition for a Leaner You

Although weight loss programs are effective in the short-term, maintaining weight loss is more challenging. Regularly tracking and logging physical activity (PA) and diet is related to greater improvements in PA and diet and to greater weight loss over time. Receiving continuous real-time feedback regarding calories burned and calories consumed could enhance weight loss maintenance. This study will examine whether a device that provides such feedback, called the SenseWear armband, enhances weight maintenance. 200 overweight adults aged 18 to 65 years will be randomly assigned to one of four groups: (1) a standard behavior change weight loss group-based program (14 group sessions over a 4 month period followed by 6 phone calls over a 5 month period), (2) a standard behavior change weight loss group-based program (15 group session over a 4 month period followed by 6 phone calls over a 5 month period) combined with the armband, (3) the armband alone (training in the use of the armband and a follow up telephone call), or (4) a self-directed weight loss control group. Participants will be recruited through USC through listserv emails, flyers, and worksite advertisements. Interested individuals will take part in a telephone screen, an orientation, a run-in visit (which includes 2 weeks of PA and dietary logging), a baseline assessment, and a randomization visit. The intervention will then take place over a 9-month period with eligible participants. Participants will take part in follow-up assessments at month 4 and 9. Assessments at all three times will include questionnaires assessing diet, PA, psychosocial factors related to diet and PA, and quality of life related measures. They will also have their fasting blood drawn to assess lipids, glucose, and insulin, and staff will measure their blood pressure, waist circumference (size), skinfold, height, and weight.