Factors associated with food choice among long-term weight loss maintainers

Background The present study aimed to examine motivations for food choice among long-term weight loss maintainers (WLM) in a widely used commercial weight management program. Methods A cross-sectional study was employed where determinants of food choice were measured in the USA using validated scales: Food Choice Questionnaire, Consideration of Future Consequences, and Eating in the Absence of Hunger. Participants were 3806 WLM following a commercial weight management program (WW International, Inc.) who had maintained a weight loss >= 9.1 kg (mean 24.7 kg) for 3.3 years and had a body mass index (BMI) of 27.6 kg m(2). A control group of weight stable individuals with obesity (controls; n = 519) had a BMI of 38.9 kg m(2) and a weight change < 2.3 kg over the previous 5 years. Results WLM vs. controls made food decisions more based on health (18.9 vs. 16.3; eta(2)(p) = 0.052) and weight control (9.9 vs. 7.5; eta(2)(p) = 0.16) and less based on price (8.4 vs. 9.1; eta(2)(p) = 0.10). WLM also scored higher than controls with respect to considering future consequences of behaviours (44.3 vs. 38.4; eta(2)(p) = 0.060) and reported less external eating in the absence of hunger (7.1 vs. 7.5; eta(2)(p) = 0.058). Standard canonical coefficients indicated that making food choices based on weight (0.717) with less value placed on price (-0.33) and greater consideration of future consequences (0.262) contributed independently and most (overall r = 0.593; p = 0.0001) to discriminating WLM from controls. Conclusions In a widely used commercial weight management program, successful WLM reported food decisions based more on weight and less on price and considered future consequences of current behaviours.

Automated summary

This study examined motivations for food choice among successful long-term weight loss maintainers in a commercial weight management program, finding that they tended to make food decisions based on health and weight control, consider future consequences of behaviors, and eat less externally in the absence of hunger compared to weight stable individuals with obesity.