Effectiveness of Scientific Weight Loss Studies

Author

Richard Osbaldiston, Eastern Kentucky UniversityFollow
Alison Adkins, Eastern Kentucky UniversityFollow
Olivia Ballard, Eastern Kentucky UniversityFollow
Samuel Bullock, Eastern Kentucky UniversityFollow
Johnny Rutherford, Eastern Kentucky UniversityFollow
Christine Salleng, Eastern Kentucky UniversityFollow
Kayla Shelton, Eastern Kentucky UniversityFollow
Emily Smith, Eastern Kentucky UniversityFollow
Meghan Moriah Sullivan, Eastern Kentucky UniversityFollow
Cassandra Williams, Eastern Kentucky UniversityFollow
Caycie Smith, Eastern Kentucky UniversityFollow

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Creation Date

2021

Major

Psychology

Department

Psychology

Degree

Undergraduate

Mentor

Richard S. Osbaldiston

Mentor Department

Psychology

Abstract

The obesity epidemic has lead to myriad physical and mental health problems. Correspondingly, the weight loss industry promotes a wide array of products that are marketed to help people lose weight, including glamorous images of impressive weight loss. None of these marketing messages report scientific studies, so we set out to examine the weight loss literature and determine how much weight loss can be reasonably expected and what are the components of the most effective weight loss programs. Using PsycInfo, we located 54 scientific studies in which weight loss was the dependent variable and which reported pre- and post-program weights. We found that, on average, these scientific studies report a weight loss of 11.5 pounds. The most common measurement interval was 6 months, and, on average, participants in these studies lost 9.95 pounds after 6 months. We concluded that the marketing materials for commercial weight loss programs grossly over-report what reasonable results are for these programs.