Weight loss in overweight or obese individuals with different structured interventions in an intense behavioral program.

Objective: Making a variety of treatment options available optimizes success in weight management interventions. BMI, medical risk factors, and patient preference should all be considered when selecting a treatment option.

Method: Health Management Resources™ (HMR^®) offers intensive behavioral programs that require weekly classes, the use of HMR meal replacements (shakes, entrees, or bars), and physical activity (PA). Four treatment options are available in the clinic setting: medically supervised (MS), BMI>35 kg/m² or diabetes, hypertension, or other significant medical problems; Intermediate (Int), BMI 30–35 without significant medical problems and consequently less frequent medical monitoring than MS; Moderate (Mod), BMI 25–30 with no medical supervision; and Healthy Solutions^® (HS), which also includes a minimum of 35 servings of fruits and vegetables each week and requires no medical supervision. Incoming consecutively enrolled patients who had never been enrolled in HMR and who completed a minimum of 12 weeks of weight loss were followed through the weight-loss phase.

Results: As the table below indicates, all treatment groups were highly successful. However, MS patients lost more weight than the Int patients, and both groups lost more weight than HS patients. Average reported weekly PA was similar for all groups (2234–2530 kcals).


Weight Loss Outcomes

Conclusion: These data suggest that using meal replacements to displace the greatest number of calories is the most effective treatment and produces the greatest weight loss for the most obese individuals (i.e., BMI >35 kg/m²). Other, less intense options incorporating meal replacements, and PA should be made available to those with lower BMIs and/or patients without issues that require medical monitoring.