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. 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. 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.
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. 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.
3. What did the authors find particularly as it relates to the chosen theory?