Lifestyle Education for Activity and Nutrition for a Leaner You

Summary

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.

Conditions

• Body Weight Changes
• Overweight

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Group weight loss program

Participants will be asked to attend 14 one-and-half-hour group sessions at the University of South Carolina's Public Health Research Center (PHRC) over a 16 week period. After the groups end, they will be asked to take part in 6 telephone calls during their remaining 2 months in the program. They will also receive a weight loss manual.

OTHER

Group weight loss program plus use of the Senseware Armband

Participants will be asked to attend 15 one-and-half-hour group sessions at the University of South Carolina's Public Health Research Center (PHRC) over a 17 week period. After the groups end, they will be asked to take part in 6 telephone calls during their remaining 2 months in the program. They will also receive a SenseWear Armband to wear during their 6 months in the program. One of these group sessions will be devoted to learning how to use the SenseWear Armband. They will be asked to wear the Armband regularly, upload data from the Armband to a web-based application, and input nutritional and health information into a personalized web account. They will receive a weight loss manual in addition to the group sessions and Armband.

DEVICE

Use of the senseware armband alone program

Participants will be asked to attend a one-hour group session at the University of South Carolina's Public Health Research Center (PHRC) to learn how to use the SenseWear Armband. They will then be asked to take part in a follow-up telephone call one week after they start wearing the armband. For the 6 months they are in the program, they will be asked to wear the Armband regularly, upload data from the Armband to a web-based application, and input nutritional and health information into a personalized web account. They will also receive a weight loss manual in addition to the Armband.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of South Carolina

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Steven N Blair, PED · University of South Carolina

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2008-02-29

Primary Completion

2009-12-31

Completion

2009-12-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations