Research Shows: Weight Loss Advice From Doctors Is Ineffective

Doctor Obesity

When talking with obese patients, doctors often give vague and superficial guidance on losing weight that is commonly not supported by scientific evidence. This is according to a new research study that was published in the journal Family Practice.

A new research study finds that when doctors tell patients living with obesity to lose weight the guidance they give is generally vague, superficial, and commonly not supported by scientific evidence. The study was published on December 13 in the journal Family Practice, by Oxford University Press.

Obesity is a chronic and relapsing condition, but physicians often lack guidance on which information is helpful for patients who would like to lose weight. As a result, the information patients receive can be hard to use and implement. Bad experiences are regularly reported by patients, who often see these conversations about weight as difficult.  

The researchers analyzed 159 audio recordings of consultations between general practitioners and patients living with obesity collected from the United Kingdom between 2013 and 2014. The investigation found that weight-loss advice from doctors to patients with obesity rarely included effective methods and mostly consisted of telling patients merely to eat less and be more physically active. The advice was mostly generic and rarely tailored to patients’ existing knowledge and behaviors, such as what strategies they had tried to lose weight before.  

The advice was mostly (97% of the time in analyzed consultations) abstract or general. Superficial guidance, such as one doctor telling a patient to just “change their lifestyle a bit” was common. Doctors gave patients information on how to carry out their advice in only 20% of the consultations. They mostly offered weight loss guidance without any detail about how to follow it. Doctors frequently (76% of the time in the consultations) told patients to get help somewhere else for support in weight loss, often suggesting that they return for another consultation at their surgery.

The analysis indicated that when doctors did offer specific information it was often scientifically unsupported and unlikely to result in actual weight loss. The notion that small changes in behavior (“take the stairs more often”) can have a large weight loss impact is a common myth and is even prevalent in scientific literature, but it isn’t supported by research. Another common myth was that patients just needed the “right mindset” to lose weight.

“This research demonstrates that doctors need clear guidelines on how to talk opportunistically to patients living with obesity about weight loss,” said one of the paper’s lead authors, Madeleine Tremblett. “This can help them to avoid amplifying stigmatizing stereotypes and give effective help to patients who want to lose weight.”

Reference: “What advice do general practitioners give to people living with obesity to lose weight? A qualitative content analysis of recorded interactions” by Madeleine Tremblett, Annabel Y X Poon, Paul Aveyard and Charlotte Albury, 13 December 2022, Family Practice.
DOI: 10.1093/fampra/cmac137

9 Comments on "Research Shows: Weight Loss Advice From Doctors Is Ineffective"

  1. Ok, great. So, what’s the advice they SHOULD be giving us?

    • On point! The line “doctors need clear guidelines on how to talk opportunistically to patients living with obesity about weight loss” is WAY too vague.

  2. In other news, water is wet.

  3. Yeah typically I am made to feel like it’s my fault and that I must not be trying hard enough or doing the right things. I had to be the one to bring up metabolic disorders and insulin resistance to finally find I did have these problems and then was put in metformin. Also spent money on a consultation with a dietitian who told me to count my calories and eat less and exercise more as if I hadn’t been trying that system for years! UGH 😣

  4. So, this article doesn’t know what to tell patients either.

  5. There are resources that can only be utilized by rx from a dr that does not have time or interest to explaine or guide. There are meds that can help but portion control, exercise more is no help. Most would rather treat my BP and a1c that address what would help eith both. Fix obesity would solve a lot of other issues but it’s easier to treat the symptoms eith more rx and return follow up visits. Yes I am pissed at the system.

  6. Advice from Dietitians is worse. In America, I never got the help I needed until one day I was told I qualify for weight loss surgery. Now I’m struggling with the diet piece in understanding my options for getting enough protein after surgery. The internet has information that’s all over the place and the instructions they give you has such limited options.

  7. The best advice on weight loss came from my father, a Mann who does NOT suffer from weight issues but every woman he has ever loved has: be healthy and find a weight you can maintain and be happy with.

    Doctors know about as much about weight loss as they do about nutrition. Zippidity doo dah!!!
    Doctor simply manage your health challenges. There’s no profit in a healthy client. Period.

    My advice, start small:
    Learn to drink water…your brain doesn’t know the difference between hunger or thirst
    Take sugar-free fiber before each meal.
    Fast 16 hrs a day….8pm-noon seems easiest FOR ME
    Brush your teeth after EVERY meal
    Find a meal plan that works for you. Carbs* are my enemy. Find your enemy, put on your whole armor and beat the enemy into
    submission. *not all carbs are evil…just the refined , empty carbs….

  8. The best advice on weight loss came from my father, a man who does NOT suffer from weight issues but every woman he has ever loved has: be healthy and find a weight you can maintain and be happy with.

    Doctors know about as much about weight loss as they do about nutrition. Zippidity doo dah!!!
    Doctor simply manage your health challenges. There’s no profit in a healthy client. Period.

    My advice, start small:
    Learn to drink water…your brain doesn’t know the difference between hunger or thirst
    Learn portion control
    Take sugar-free fiber before each meal.
    Fast 16 hrs a day….8pm-noon seems easiest FOR ME
    Brush your teeth after EVERY meal
    Find a meal plan that works for you. Carbs* are my enemy. Find your enemy, put on your whole armor and beat the enemy into
    submission.

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