Zeitschrift für Adipositas- und Gewichtsverlusttherapie

Abstrakt

New Approach for Obesity Treatment Incorporating Individual Self- Management Education

Sechang OH, Mijung KIM, Miki ETO, Bokun KIM, Junichi Shoda and Kiyoji Tanaka

Background: Obesity is a global issue, and its prevalence is a major public health concern. To help resolve this obesity epidemic, we propose an education program for positive behavior change. This program incorporates diet and exercise behaviors at the individual level.
Objective: To demonstrate the effects of a new approach for treating obesity by improving individual selfmanagement through investigating, i) behavior modification in the treatment of obesity, ii) the change of obesity states and physical performance capacity, and iii) the risk factors to be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome.
Design: Twenty-four men during the 2011 and thirty-three men during the 2012 intervention contributed to the
current study. Over 12 weeks, a total of 57 subjects participated in individual self-management education program.
Results: For a short-term program, in both the years 2011 and 2012 subjects showed a decrease in daily energy intake (-30.1% and -27.7%) accompanied by an increase in daily energy expenditure (+5.7% and +5.9%), suggesting an ability of individuals to keep obesity under control through behavior therapy. Subjects also showed a marked change in obesity states and physical capacity such as decreased body weight (-12.1% and -13.6%), and higher VO2max (+22.0% and +21.4%). Further, our comprehensive protocol led to a improvement in components for metabolic syndrome; reduction in waist circumference (-10.4% and -11.7%), blood pressure (systolic: -12.9% and -9.8%; diastolic: -14.6% and -9.6%), fasting plasma glucose (-8.6%, -7.6%), and triglyceride (-60.6% and -46.7%) along with an increase in the levels of HDL-C (+16.5% and +10.5%) was seen.
Conclusion: Under our protocol, subjects achieved optimal results for treating obesity during two consecutive years. We recognize that these results are due to an acquired ability like broader perspective and greater acumen about individual obesity management. Therefore, the methods and delivery of our new public approach are useful to the general public.