Evaluation of environmental and nutritional changes in a home food environment intervention for weight loss

Abstract

There is a pressing need to improve standard behavioral weight loss (BWL) programs to improve both short-term and long-term weight loss outcomes. One limitation of current BWL programs is that they rely heavily on participants’ own self-control to make and sustain major changes to their diet and overall energy intake. However, the reliability of willpower alone to maintain weight loss has been called into question; over time, when weight loss slows and motivation drops, adherence to the implementation of core BWL skills and principles may drop and lead to weight regain. Increased structure and targeted skills designed to shift the burden away from self-control could help improve dietary intake and weight loss outcomes in BWL. The current study aimed to investigate changes in the home food environment and dietary intake across three weight loss conditions: standard behavior therapy, behavior therapy plus meal replacement provisions, and behavior therapy supplemented with nutritional and food environment counseling (Nutritrol). Across all three conditions, results showed that participants were able to make positive quantitative (i.e., reductions in overall energy intake) and qualitative (e.g., decrease in percentage of energy intake coming from fat) changes over the course of the intervention, although the sustainability of these changes in the follow-up period was mixed. Over time, Nutritrol showed a meaningful advantage over the other conditions regarding the percentage of intake that came from carbohydrates and fats, and the overall amount of fiber that was consumed. Contrary to our hypotheses, no other differences were detected in dietary quality, quantity of energy intake, or obesogenic nature of the home food environment between conditions. Possible explanations for these lack of significant findings, including measurement tool limitations or insufficient treatment doses, are discussed.M.S., Psychology -- Drexel University, 201