UF Study: Telehealth Individual Counseling for Weight Loss Maintenance Works

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about an explosion in telehealth, but is it as effective as in-person treatment? A new University of Florida study published in JAMA Network Open found that rural residents who received individual telephone counseling for a year after participating in a weight loss program were able to maintain 100% of their weight loss.

This is significant considering many people will regain one-third to one-half of the weight they lost within a year after participating in a weight loss program. 

“Providing extended care for the treatment of obesity can help solve one of the major problems that confront obesity management: weight gain after treatment ends,” said Michael G. Perri, Ph.D., the study’s lead investigator and dean of the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, part of UF Health. “We’ve found that we can slow down and decrease the amount of weight regain people experience and we can do that effectively via telehealth. We can also significantly increase the proportion of people who are in the category of being very successful in managing their weight over the long run.”

Learn more about UF Study: Telehealth Individual Counseling for Weight Loss Maintenance Works.