The impact of lifestyle counselling on weight management and quality of life among working-age females

Objective Overweight and obesity are increasing globally. General practitioners (GP's) are at the first point of contact for medical support and consequently have a major role in resolving this overwhelming problem. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a brief lifestyle counselling on weight management and on the participants' quality of life (QoL). Design A cohort study with a one-year follow-up. Setting Occupational health care, city of Pori in southwestern Finland. Participants Female municipal employees (n = 625) with a mean age of 48 (SD 9) years. Intervention A nurse and a physiotherapist gave lifestyle counselling to all the participants; however, only the overweight/obese subjects were recommended to lose at least 5% of their initial weight. Main outcome measure Success in weight management and quality of life. Results At the follow-up visit, 10.4% (95% CI: 7.5-14.0) of the overweight/obese subjects had lost at least 5% of their weight, but 10.0% (95% CI: 6.7-14.3) of the normal-weight participants had become overweight. The mean weight change was +0.1 kg (95% CI: -0.3-0.5) in the overweight/obese group and +0.5 kg (95% CI: 0.2-0.8) in the normal weight group. The change in QoL was inversely correlated with relative weight change in overweight/obese subjects, albeit the effect size was small. Conclusion Weight management counselling should also be directed to individuals with a normal weight. Even with brief lifestyle counselling it may be possible to stabilize weight gain. Successful weight loss may improve the QoL of overweight/obese individuals.