Social Support Can Help Kids Maintain Weight Loss

Wednesday October 10, 2007

A study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week, states that overweight kids who lose weight, have a harder time keeping it off if they don't have follow-up weight management support. Scientists studied 204 kids, ages 7-12, who were overweight.

The kids took part in 5 months of weight loss treatments The kids and their families learned weight loss skills. At the end of the five months, 150 kids were split into one of three groups. The control group continued on their own with their families, applying what they learned during the five months. The behavioral skills maintenance (BSM) group had continued educational support, and the social facilitation maintenance (SFM) group had social and peer support to help them maintain their weightloss efforts.

Both the BSM and the SFM groups of kids maintained their weight loss longer than the control group. The SFM kids kept the weight off the longest.