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Wolfson Institute of Population Health
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  6. Weight Action Plan

Weight Action Plan

The Health and Lifestyle Research Unit has developed a weight management programme (Weight Action Plan), improved it over a number of iterations, and evaluated it in several studies, including a Medical Research Council funded randomised controlled trial.

The local authority now funds the team to provide Weight Action Plan courses to up to 1,000 local people per year. The courses are open to anyone who lives or works in Tower Hamlets, including QMUL staff.

Below are the course details.

The Weight Action Plan is a free course run by specialists from the Health and Lifestyle Research Unit within Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).

The course uses up-to-date evidence-based methods of weight management combined with group support and weekly tasks. The various tasks and the programme itself have been tested in several studies and a large randomised trial (1-5). Research shows that the programme helps over 40% of participants to lose at least 5% of their body weight at one year.3

If you are thinking of joining the course, here is some information to help you to decide whether this is for you.

There are several good ways of managing one’s weight. Not all of them will work for everybody, but here is a way to try several of them to see which one works for you.

  • Over the first 8 weeks of the course, you will be given a series of tasks
  • You have to be able to commit to practice each task for at least the following week; and to record that you did so.
  • If the task worked, you can continue to use it; if it did not work or was too difficult, you can stop it
  • You then have a good chance of finding at least some methods that you can adopt long-term – and continue to practice them with guidance for the last 4 weeks of the 12-week course
  • There is however, the tough part mentioned earlier – you will have to stick to each of the tasks for at least one week
  • In addition, throughout the course, there will be a gradually increasing exercise target, based on your needs and ability
  • You will work on the tasks with ‘buddies’ and report to the group on what worked well and what didn’t.

The course is open to anyone who lives and/or works in Tower Hamlets aged over 18 with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above (or over 27.5 for people of South-Asian heritage). To check your BMI, enter your height and weight here - BMI calculator.

We currently offer Zoom and face-to-face clinics at various locations around Tower Hamlets. The course is 12-weeks long and each session lasts up to 1 hour.

Please note, that you choose the Zoom option you will be required to keep your camera on during the session.

To register for the course, please click on the link - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7WQQVJ3

If you have any questions, please text 07860040277 or email wap@qmul.ac.uk

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References:

  1.  McRobbie H, Hajek P, Peerbux S, Kahan BC, Eldridge S, Trépel D, Parrott S, Griffiths C, Snuggs S, Myers Smith K. (2016) Tackling obesity in areas of high social deprivation: clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a task-based weight management group programme a randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation. Health Technology Assessment Volume: 20 Issue: 79, October 2016
  2.  Hajek P, Humphrey K, McRobbie H (2010) Using group support to complement a task-based weight management programme in multi-ethnic localities of high deprivation. Patient Education and Counselling,80, 135-137
  3.  McRobbie H, Hajek P, Peerbux S, Kahan BC, Eldridge S, Trépel D, Parrott S, Griffiths C, Snuggs S, Myers Smith K. (2019) Randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation of a task-based weight management group programme. BMC Public Health, 19:365 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-6679-3
  4.  Hajek P, Przulj D, Pesola F, McRobbie H, Peerbux S, Phillips-Waller A, Bisal N, Myers Smith K. (2021) A randomised controlled trial of the 5:2 diet. PLoS One. 16(11)  
  5. Przulj D, Ladmore D, Smith KM, Phillips-Waller A, Hajek P (2021) Time restricted eating as a weight loss intervention in adults with obesity. PLoS ONE 16(1): e0246186.

 

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