title: Regulatory Focus, Proximity to Goal Weight, and Weight Loss Maintenance.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Regulatory focus theory proposes 2 self-regulatory orientations: promotion focus - related to achieving aspirations and positive outcomes - and prevention focus - related to fulfilling responsibilities and preventing negative outcomes. The investigation examined whether regulatory focus and proximity to goal weight moderated the effectiveness of a weight-loss maintenance intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants who lost ≥10% of their weight were assigned to guided or self-directed treatments and completed regulatory focus and weight goal measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Across treatment groups, people who were more promotion-focused had better 2-year maintenance rates (defined as regain <25%) than people who were less promotion-focused, especially if far from their goal weight (.59 versus .44). In the guided group, people who were more prevention-focused had better maintenance rates than people who were less prevention-focused if closer to their goal weight (.69 versus .42), but poorer maintenance rates if farther from their goal (.36 versus .72). In the self-directed group, prevention focus was unrelated to maintenance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Regulatory focus and proximity to goal weight moderated intervention effectiveness. Maintenance may be enhanced by tailoring treatments to regulatory focus and goal weight (eg, prevention-focused people far from their goals may need extra weight-loss support before focusing on maintenance).
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL, USA. paul.fuglestad@unf.edu.
authors.forename: Paul T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Fuglestad
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Alexander J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Rothman
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Jeffery
authors.affiliation: HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research, Bloomington, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Sherwood
mesh_terms: D000068959:Body Weight Maintenance; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D000068356:Self-Control / Q000523:psychology*; D015431:Weight Loss