Autonomy and Weight Loss Maintenance
According to this article self-determination theory argues that a behavior change is likely
to occur and persist if it is motivated by autonomy. The article titled motivational predictors of
weight loss and weight loss maintenance by William et al. (1996) tested the self-development
theory with 128 participants within six months.
Can individual participants whose weight loss is autonomous maintain the weight loss at follow-
>up? Between the severely and morbidly obese, which category of people would lose the most
weight? And which of the two would maintain the most incredible weight-loss over two years?
Autonomy and Weight Loss Maintenance
2. What did the author do?
Before starting the 26-week program, the program staff conducted a health assessment
and brief psychological interview on the severely obese respondents (Williams et al., 1996). The
researchers divided the period of study into two 13 weeks each. During the first 13 weeks period,
they gave study respondents a very-low-calorie liquid diet. The respondents were then gradually
given the normal foods at a restricted level in the second 13-week period (Williams et al., 1996).
>The authors of this study assigned a nurse or a physician to check the laboratory tests, weights,
and vital signs every week. The patients under study were expected to attend a weekly group
meeting together with other patients meant to foster peer support, enhance social interactions
between them, and impart them with techniques of managing behavior by themselves. During the
weekly meeting, nutritionists and physiologists got an opportunity to give mini-lectures and open
a consultation window.
The 128 individuals who participate in this study had an average age of 43 years, and the
majority of them, at 73%, were female (Williams et al., 1996). Before the first program meeting,
participants’ weights and heights were recorded by a nurse from the program center. Before the
second session of the program, the participants’ reasons for taking part in the program and
following its guidelines were assessed. Only 52 of the128 respondents who participated in this
study provided follow-up weights (Williams et al., 1996).
3. What did the authors find particularly as it relates to the chosen theory?