Doctors in the UK are being urged to have a 30 second chat with patients, that has had a huge effect on weight loss success rates.
Researchers from the University of Oxford found that some patients, who previously had no intention of losing weight, lost 10% of their body weight after being a offered a free programme.
A 30 second chat with their GP was all it took to trigger the person into losing weight.
Paul Cooper, 69, was told by his doctor that weighing in at 98kg was unhealthy. He had gone in to see him about a different medical condition, but his doctor initiated the talk by saying “while you’re here, let’s talk about your weight.”
He was offered a free place on a weight-loss programme, along with another 1000+ patients on the trial.
Interestingly, it didn’t seem to matter if patients actually turned up to the programme or not. Simply having the conversation with their doctor was enough to trigger a quarter of them to lose 5% of their original weight in a year, with a tenth of them losing 10%.
But another 1000 patients were simply told they could do with losing weight, and were not offered a free weight loss programme. These people lost 50% less weight than the other group.
Paul, who now weighs in at 84kg, says he now has the energy to go hiking and pay cricket in the summer.
His advice to fellow dieters is not to become a party pooper. “Have a small piece of birthday cake, eat it very slowly and don’t have a second one…take your time and tell yourself it’s a real treat.”
