title: Changing the endpoints for determining effective obesity management.
abstract: Health authorities worldwide recommend weight loss as a primary endpoint for effective obesity management. Despite a growing public awareness of the importance of weight loss and the spending of billions of dollars by Americans in attempts to lose weight, obesity prevalence continues to rise. In this report we argue that effective obesity management in today's environment will require a shift in focus from weight loss as the primary endpoint, to improvements in the causal behaviors; diet and exercise/physical activity (PA). We reason that increases in PA combined with a balanced diet are associated with improvement in many of the intermediate risk factors including cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) associated with obesity despite minimal or no weight loss. Consistent with this notion, we suggest that a focus on healthy behaviors for the prevention of additional weight gain may be an effective way of managing obesity in the short term.
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada; School of Medicine, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: rossr@queensu.ca.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise Science and Department of Epidemiology/Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Blair
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Lannoy
authors.affiliation: Quebec Heart and Lung Institute, Department of kinesiology, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Després
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, Ochsner Clinical School-University of Queensland School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA.
authors.forename: Carl J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lavie
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004035:Diet Therapy / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D019468:Disease Management; D023381:Endpoint Determination / Q000379:methods*; D015444:Exercise; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D015431:Weight Loss
keywords: Diet; Exercise; Obesity; Physical activity; Weight loss