N-of-1 Study of Weight Loss Maintenance in People who Lost Over 5% of Body Weight.

Authors

  • D. Kwasnicka
  • S.U. Dombrowski
  • M. White
  • F. F. Sniehotta

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to advance understanding of explanatory variables associated with weight loss maintenance (WLM). Methods: We used a series of n-of-1 studies and McKnight bootstrapping approach to explore WLM in 12 people who in the previous year lost over 5% of their body weight. For two months we used ecologic momentary assessment to gather daily data on motivation, self-regulation, resources, habits and environmental and social influences (predictive variables) and weight, physical activity and ability to follow a WLM plan (outcome variables). Results: For all 12 participants, daily fluctuations of each of the 3 outcomes were significantly predicted by explanatory variables. Patterns of variables contributing to the prediction, amount of variability accounted for and autoregression differed between participants. Discussion: Divergent maintenance-related variables showed differential impact on ability to maintain weight, engage in physical activity and to follow a WLM plan for different individuals. The n-of-1 design offers useful tool for developing and testing theory of behaviour change maintenance.

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Published

2014-12-01

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Section

Oral presentations