Special promotional content from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Department of Surgery.
Looking to lose a few pounds? Or just have a little more energy, feel healthier and stronger? You’re not alone!
The University of Wisconsin is now offering a free 18-month weight loss program that’ll help you form better eating and exercise habits without going on a diet.
The program, called Log2Lose, is part of a long-term research study. The program consists of virtual group meetings every other week for six months; six months of monthly meetings and individual phone calls; and finally three individual calls with a dietician over the last six months. Participants will also have three in-person appointments during that time, and will be compensated for that time.
The idea is to set you up for long-term success, said Dr. Corrine Voils, the Department of Surgery professor who’s running the study.
“We focus on teaching people about nutrition. We don’t focus on any specific diet or ask people to restrict any particular foods,” she said. “We’re just trying to teach general nutrition principles that they can incorporate into their lives with foods they already eat.”
Voils said the program will also teach and encourage physical activity that doesn’t require joining a gym.
“And we’re also teaching about behavioral stress, about how to track their calories, how to weigh regularly, how to do mindful eating and deal with emotional eating and those sorts of things,” she said.
Voils is looking for 350 people to participate, and wants the group to be as diverse as possible.
“Latino and Black Americans suffer disproportionately from obesity related diseases, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes. We see these individuals enroll less in weight loss studies. We don’t really know if the strategies that we’re trying out and testing work well for these groups. It’s really important for us to know that because most weight loss studies in the community tend to involve middle aged white women, which is an important group, but doesn’t represent the United States.”
Voils said any adults age 18 or older may be eligible. Everyone in the program will go through the same weight loss program. The only thing that will differ is the additional messages you’ll get between meetings to keep you on track.
“The best predictors of how well people do in these programs is how much they weigh regularly and track their food,” Voils said. “We find that when people join weight loss programs, they will typically do those things initially and do pretty well in losing weight, but over time, they stop tracking, they stop weighing regularly, and we tend to see the weight increase at the same time. So we are testing the use of different types of text messages to motivate and remind people to do those behaviors.”
To join the program, you can fill out an eligibility form at https://www.log2lose.com.
