Do monthly coaching calls influence proximal participant adherence in a behavioral weight loss program?

ABSTRACT

Participants who receive continued coach contact following behavioral weight loss treatment are more successful in maintaining their weight loss long-term. The current study examines whether these contacts have dynamic effects, such that participants are most adherent to the prescribed weight loss behaviors in the days after the call, when motivation and goal salience may be heightened, than they are as time goes on. The current study examined the trajectory of calorie intake, physical activity, weight, and self-monitoring behavior in the fourteen days after a monthly coaching call among participants completing the maintenance phase of a behavioral weight loss trial. For physical activity outcomes, caloric intake, and weight, there were no changes across time. Participants did have the highest adherence and quality of dietary self-monitoring immediately after the call, which diminished over time. Coach contact may continually renew commitment to this burdensome but critical behavior. Likelihood of self-weighing showed an opposite trend, where participants were more likely to weigh themselves in the days more distal from the coach call. Results can inform the timing and content of future coach contact to promote weight control.