Patients have unreal expectations about weight loss

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Monday, November 01, 2010 6:02 am Email this article
"Patients chose goal weights that were nearly four times their typical previous weight losses," say the authors of a recent study out of Italy on patients expectations from obesity treatments.

The study asked fifty-eight women who on averaged were 49-years-old and weighed approximately 250 pounds what amount of weight loss would leave them feeling “disappointed”, “acceptable”, “happy”, and “ideal”.

Patients reported that they had been on an average of six diets previously and the average weight loss from any one diet had been 24 pounds, however, they expected much more from obesity treatments as shown below.

• A loss of 20 pounds would be “disappointing”.
• A loss of 33 pounds would be “acceptable”.
• A loss of 55 pounds would make them “happy”.
• A loss of 77 pounds would be “ideal”.

“These expectations are unrealistic for even the best available treatments,” the study’s authors concluded.

Successful long-term weight loss is often defined maintaining a 10 percent weight loss for one year.

REFERENCE

Rovera GM, Agagliati D, Manghisi L, Liguori L, Minutolo M, Leoni C, Saver B, Zago S. Patients’ expectations of obesity treatment outcomes. International Journal of Obesity, 1999 May, 23(5):S162(abstract 533).

Articles on the same subject can be found here:

• Weight Loss Expectations