title: The mind your health project: a randomized controlled trial of an innovative behavioral treatment for obesity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether acceptance-based behavioral treatment (ABT) would result in greater weight loss than standard behavioral treatment (SBT), and whether treatment effects were moderated by interventionist expertise or participants' susceptibility to eating cues. Recent research suggests that poor long-term weight-control outcomes are due to lapses in adherence to weight-control behaviors and that adherence might be improved by enhancing SBT with acceptance-based behavioral strategies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Overweight participants (n = 128) were randomly assigned to 40 weeks of SBT or ABT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both groups produced significant weight loss, and when administered by experts, weight loss was significantly higher in ABT than SBT at post-treatment (13.17% vs. 7.54%) and 6-month follow-up (10.98% vs. 4.83%). Moreover, 64% of those receiving ABT from experts (vs. 46% for SBT) maintained at least a 10% weight loss by follow-up. Moderation analyses revealed a powerful advantage, at follow-up, of ABT over SBT in those potentially more susceptible to eating cues. For participants with greater baseline depression symptomology, weight loss at follow-up was 11.18% in ABT versus 4.63% in SBT; other comparisons were 10.51% versus 6.00% (emotional eating), 8.29% versus 6.35% (disinhibition), and 9.70% versus 4.46% (responsivity to food cues). Mediation analyses produced partial support for theorized food-related psychological acceptance as a mechanism of action.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results offer strong support for the incorporation of acceptance-based skills into behavioral weight loss treatments, particularly among those with greater levels of depression, responsivity to the food environment, disinhibition, and emotional eating, and especially when interventions are provided by weight-control experts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Drexel University, 245 N. 15th Street, MS 626, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA. evan.forman@drexel.edu
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Forman
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Butryn
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Juarascio
authors.forename: L E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Lowe
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Herbert
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Shaw
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004032:Diet; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D011788:Quality of Life; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015431:Weight Loss; D055815:Young Adult