Nutritional Education and Exercise Treatment Based on Cognitive Behavioral Treatment in the Saku Control Obesity Program (SCOP)

BACKGROUND: Long-term weight loss is difficult to maintain, but recently cognitive behavioral therapy has been shown to be effective for long-term weight loss and maintenance.METHODS: The 119 participants, who had been assigned to program to lose weight, were interviewed by dieticians regarding their motivation for weight loss and psychological status and self-corrected problems with their eating activities and exercises, following recognition of problems, discussing solutions, and devising personal dietary plans and exercise plan to loose weight at 1.0-2.0 kg per month.RESULTS: In women, the prevalence of motivation to resolve the situation (n = 44, 84.6%) was significantly higher than that of men (n = 33, 67.3%; p < 0.05). In men, awareness of the need to keep healthy by oneself was significantly associated with the motivation to resolve the situation (p = 0.002) and the availability of support from others (p = 0.004). Thirty problems and 29 dietary goals were set by participants. The percentages of intake of alcohol (p < 0.05) and intake of sweets (p < 0.01) as the problems and decrease of intake in specified foods (p < 0.01) and snacks (p = 0.05) as dietary goals were significantly different between men and women. Women with BMI over 31 kg/m² set fewer additional steps as exercise goals than those with BMI under 29 kg/m² (p < 0.05).CONCLUSIONS: The characters of subjects such as psychological status and the problems and the target recognized by participants were different between gender and the degree of obesity.