Weight Loss by Phone

You don’t have to take it from us, you can see that experts in the field of behavior modification and weight loss have held studies that support everything we do at MyPhoneCoach.com. Our 8 week Personal Transformation Program is more focused on addressing the model of change and getting our clients ready for change with effective personal development.

Weight-loss study shows phone support as effective as face time

Hopkins research indicates that check-ins via phone work well because they’re easier to schedule

November 30, 2011|By Karen Nitkin, Special to The Baltimore Sun

Baltimore resident Doug Howard lost 100 pounds taking part in a Johns Hopkins study that could change the way people approach the daunting task of dropping pounds and keeping them off.

For the two-year study, Howard, like other participants, was referred by his doctor. He then received coaching, both in person and over the phone. Another group, also referred by a doctor, received counseling over the phone but did not attend in-person sessions.

And here’s the surprising part: In both groups, participants lost an average of 10 pounds and kept it off. A control group that received a number of weight-loss pamphlets and access to a noninteractive website, but got no phone or in-person support, lost less than 2 pounds on average.

“I think originally we thought the in-person group would do better,” said Arlene Dalcin, a research associate on the project, which was mainly sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. “In fact, there was no difference between in-person and remote. Each group lost a little more than 10 pounds and kept it off for two years.”

The study indicates that counseling support is critical to weight-loss success, and also that getting the support over the phone can be just as effective as attending group or one-on-one counseling sessions. That could be good news for people who don’t have the time or motivation for in-person sessions, or maybe don’t want to step on a scale in a room full of people.

“In most weight-loss studies, there is a lot of emphasis on frequent, in-person counseling sessions, but from a logistical perspective, it’s a disaster,” said study leader Dr. Lawrence Appel, a professor of medicine and director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research at the Johns Hopkins University.

“Patients start off strong but then stop attending in-person sessions. That’s why I like the telephone program. It is convenient to individuals and can be done anywhere. You could be living in rural South Dakota, and we could deliver this intervention. It removes some of the major logistical barriers.”

Howard, 33 and 6 feet tall, had reached 280 pounds and was suffering from Type 2 diabetes when his doctor referred him to the study. He received support in the form of group and one-on-one counseling sessions, followed by a period of time when he received online information and regular phone calls from a counselor.

While in the study, Howard began exercising daily and changed his eating habits, limiting his intake to 1,800 calories a day. “I ate a lot more than that before,” he said. “I had trouble feeling full, and it took me a while to find foods I liked that would fill me up.”

For his research job, he used to pack a lunch of a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, a single-serve bag of potato chips, a granola bar, a cup of pudding and a full-calorie soda. Now, he still packs the sandwich, but he takes carrots and a piece of fruit instead of chips, water instead of soda, and sugar-free pudding and reduced-sugar granola bar.

Eventually, his support took the form of a monthly phone call. “It was much easier to take a five-minute phone call” than to go to a meeting, he said.