Weight Management Practices and their

Abstract

The objective of the study was to identify weight management (WM) practices among women attending diet clinics in Riyadh city, assess their impact on knowledge, perceptions, nutritional and health status and define some predictors for weight reduction among these women. The pretestposttest research design was used. All female clients attending 8 diet clinics for the first visit within 8 months period and fulfilling the study inclusion criteria (212 out of 263) were included. The results show that out of 170 females who had previously tried to lose weight, only 32.4% reported success in reducing weight, meanwhile 61.7% reported weight regain. The mean total score of dietary practices, physical activity score, self efficacy and satisfaction of self-body image were improved significantly at posUest. Analysis of 24 h. dietary recall revealed that total energy and nutrients intake were significantly reduced at posttest. Dieting related problems increased significantly at posttest. Nutritional knowledge was at moderately fair level at both pretest and posHest; however it showed a significant improvement in the posttest. Perceived severity, perceived barriers and negative modeling effect were significantly decreased at the posttest. Over expectation for weight reduction was clearly evident as posttest body mass index (BM!) revealed a wide .discrepancy between the expected and final weights. However, as compared to initial and final BMI, there was an increase in women who attained normal weight and a decrease in the percentage of obese and morbid obese women.