New study reveals obese adults who lose at least 5 percent of their body weight are more cheerful, sleep better and longer after six months of weight loss.

In addition, the study found that weight loss at 6 months improved sleep quality, as well as mood, regardless of how the individuals lost the weight.
The 390 study subjects participated in the Practice-Based Opportunities for Weight Reduction at the University of Pennsylvania (POWER-UP) trial. This 2-year study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, compared three behavioral interventions for weight loss in obese adults treated in primary care practices.
Subjects (311 women and 79 men) were randomly assigned to one of three programs that provided varying amounts of support to achieve the same diet and exercise goals. The groups were: (1) usual care, in which subjects received printed educational materials during quarterly visits with their primary care provider; (2) brief lifestyle counseling, which included quarterly visits with their primary care provider, combined with brief meetings with lifestyle coaches; or (3) enhanced brief lifestyle counseling, with meal replacements or weight loss medications added to the second intervention.
The researchers evaluated changes in weight, sleep duration and quality, and mood after 6 and 24 months of treatment. They compared subjects who lost 5 percent or more of their original body weight with those who lost less than 5 percent, regardless of their group assignment. The analyses controlled for several subject variables, including sex and age.
At month 6, subjects in both lifestyle counseling groups lost more weight on average (brief counseling: 7.8 lb; enhanced counseling: 14.7 lb) than those in the usual care group (4.4 lb), Alfaris reported.
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Only improvements in mood remained statistically significant at 24 months, according to Alfaris.
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Source-Eurekalert