Weight gain prevention during the Christmas holiday period: exploring effectiveness and participant experiences of a behavioural intervention

Weight is increasing in the population and holidays, such as Christmas, have been identified as high-risk periods. This thesis presents the development of a behavioural intervention to prevent weight gain over the Christmas period, its evaluation in a Randomised Controlled Trial (The Winter Weight Watch study), and an exploration of participant experiences of the intervention. The possible mechanisms of action of the intervention are also explored. The intervention consisted of encouragement to regularly self-weigh and record weight, physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) information about commonly consumed festive foods and drinks and weight management tips. The hypothesised main mechanism of action was that each component would promote restraint of energy intake, preventing weight gain over Christmas. The RCT showed the intervention to be effective in preventing weight gain. At follow up the difference in weight between intervention and control groups (adjusting for baseline weight) was -0.49kg. Conscious energy restraint scores increased in the intervention group. The qualitative study showed that participants found the concept of weight gain prevention at Christmas acceptable. Self-weighing and PACE information were key drivers in encouraging restraint of energy intake. PACE information mainly prompted participants to restrain energy intake rather than increase physical activity. In conclusion, the developed intervention prevented weight gain during the Christmas period and was acceptable to participants. PACE information and self-weighing were found to be key drivers of self-regulatory behaviours. These findings hold promise for preventing weight gain during high risk periods

Arbor Day Foundation Consulting Project MNGT 475L

Over the past 4 months, our team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Business Honors Academy has been working directly with Nebraska’s own, Arbor Day Foundation, or Arbor Day, in hopes of applying our skill sets and mindsets to solve a pressing problem Arbor Day currently faces. We have been tasked with the challenge of identifying creative, scalable, and profitable new business ventures for Arbor Day that will aid the generation of new revenue sources. With these sources of revenue, Arbor Day desires to further inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees and in turn solve some of the world’s biggest challenges. Our recommendations to Arbor Day are to invest in social media to increase its brand awareness and presence with a younger demographic, to make use of influencer campaigns to increase social media engagement, and to utilize on-the-ground events and personalization tactics to increase repeat donations via social media

Arbor Day Foundation Consulting Project MNGT 475L

Over the past 4 months, our team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Business Honors Academy has been working directly with Nebraska’s own, Arbor Day Foundation, or Arbor Day, in hopes of applying our skill sets and mindsets to solve a pressing problem Arbor Day currently faces. We have been tasked with the challenge of identifying creative, scalable, and profitable new business ventures for Arbor Day that will aid the generation of new revenue sources. With these sources of revenue, Arbor Day desires to further inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees and in turn solve some of the world’s biggest challenges. Our recommendations to Arbor Day are to invest in social media to increase its brand awareness and presence with a younger demographic, to make use of influencer campaigns to increase social media engagement, and to utilize on-the-ground events and personalization tactics to increase repeat donations via social media

Arbor Day Foundation

Over the past 4 months, our team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Business Honors Academy has been working directly with Nebraska’s own, Arbor Day Foundation, or Arbor Day, in hopes of applying our skill sets and mindsets to solve a pressing problem Arbor Day currently faces. We have been tasked with the challenge of identifying creative, scalable, and profitable new business ventures for Arbor Day that will aid the generation of new revenue sources. With these sources of revenue, Arbor Day desires to further inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees and in turn solve some of the world’s biggest challenges. Our recommendations to Arbor Day are to invest in social media to increase its brand awareness and presence with a younger demographic, to make use of influencer campaigns to increase social media engagement, and to utilize on-the-ground events and personalization tactics to increase repeat donations via social media

4-H Favorite Foods Unit 1.

28 p

Home Canning--Fruits and Vegetables.

40pg

Let's Cook and Eat Green and Yellow Vegetables.

2 p

Christmas Time at Home.

40 p

Let's Prepare and Eat…Vegetable Salads.

4 p

Effectiveness of a brief behavioural intervention to prevent weight gain over the Christmas holiday period: randomised controlled trial

OBJECTIVE To test the effectiveness of a brief behavioural intervention to prevent weight gain over the Christmas holiday period. DESIGN Two group, double blinded randomised controlled trial. SETTING Recruitment from workplaces, social media platforms, and schools pre-Christmas 2016 and 2017 in Birmingham, UK. PARTICIPANTS 272 adults aged 18 years or more with a body mass index of 20 or more: 136 were randomised to a brief behavioural intervention and 136 to a leaflet on healthy living (comparator). Baseline assessments were conducted in November and December with follow-up assessments in January and February (4-8 weeks after baseline). INTERVENTIONS The intervention aimed to increase restraint of eating and drinking through regular self weighing and recording of weight and reflection on weight trajectory; providing information on good weight management strategies over the Christmas period; and pictorial information on the physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) of regularly consumed festive foods and drinks. The goal was to gain no more than 0.5 kg of baseline weight. The comparator group received a leaflet on healthy living. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The primary outcome was weight at follow-up. The primary analysis compared weight at follow-up between the intervention and comparator arms, adjusting for baseline weight and the stratification variable of attendance at a commercial weight loss programme. Secondary outcomes (recorded at followup) were: weight gain of 0.5 kg or less, self reported frequency of self weighing (at least twice weekly versus less than twice weekly), percentage body fat, and cognitive restraint of eating, emotional eating, and uncontrolled eating. RESULTS Mean weight change was −0.13 kg (95% confidence interval −0.4 to 0.15) in the intervention group and 0.37 kg (0.12 to 0.62) in the comparator group. The adjusted mean difference in weight (intervention− comparator) was −0.49 kg (95% confidence interval −0.85 to −0.13, P=0.008). The odds ratio for gaining no more than 0.5 kg was non-significant (1.22, 95% confidence interval 0.74 to 2.00, P=0.44). CONCLUSION A brief behavioural intervention involving regular self weighing, weight management advice, and information about the amount of physical activity required to expend the calories in festive foods and drinks prevented weight gain over the Christmas holiday period