Men and women in a weight loss program that combined personal telephone coaching plus a weight-loss supplement doubled their weight and body fat loss over those using either intervention individually, researchers report.

“Many people cannot successfully lose weight on their own,” Dr. Larry A. Tucker told Reuters Health.

“An effective supplement may help jump start a weight loss program,” said Tucker, of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, but his and colleagues findings suggest telephone coaching encourages steady weight loss over a longer term.

Tucker’s team enlisted 120 otherwise healthy, but overweight and obese, men and women, aged 25 to 60 years old, to follow one of 4 regimens for 17 weeks, they report in the journal Health Promotion.

Half the participants received about 30 minutes of weekly telephone coaching to promote weight loss, while half did not. Furthermore, half in each of these groups either used a daily weight-loss supplement or a matching placebo containing no active ingredients, both supplied by TriVita, Inc. (Scottsdale, Arizona).

The final study groups of 30 people each consisted of equal numbers of men and women, with similar average starting weights or percent body fat.

Average losses in the coaching plus supplement group were 4.4 kilograms (9.7 pounds) of weight and 2.3 kilograms (5.1 pounds) of body fat.

By comparison, the supplement/no coaching group reported losses of 2.3 kilograms (5.1 pounds) of weight and 1.3 kilograms (2.9 pounds) of fat. Coaching plus placebo, in essence coaching alone, brought losses of 2.1 kilograms (4.6 pounds) of weight and 1.1 kilograms (2.4 pounds) of fat; and the no coaching/placebo group lost the least weight (1.7 kilograms or 3.7 pounds) and fat (0.4 kilograms or 0.9 pounds).

Tucker’s group noted weight loss peaked during the first 2 months in supplement users, but remained more steady over 4 months in the coached group suggesting a longer-term benefit from phone coaching.

If confirmed in follow-up studies of longer duration, the investigators suggest telephone coaching may prove to be especially useful in workplace weight loss programs.

SOURCE: Health Promotion, November/December 2008