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A key element of many well-run workplace wellness programs is helping obese employers incorporate new behaviors into their routines in order to address challenges with weight.

A study published in Obesity indicates that: Self-Regulation Helps Obese, Overweight Patients Shed Pounds,” as reported by MedPage.

What might this study mean, especially for workplace wellness programs seeking to design activities that address behaviors as part of weight-control?

MedPage reports that Steven Heymsfield, MD, spokesperson for The Obesity Society said: “These findings are a boon to clinicians, dietitians, and psychologists as they add a new dimension to behavioral therapy that can potentially help improve long-term outcomes for people with obesity. This study is one of the first of its kind, and offers promise of a new tool to add to the toolbox of treatments for overweight and obesity.”

According to MedPage: “Overweight and obese individuals lost more weight using an acceptance-based behavioral treatment compared with standard weight loss methods alone, according to a second substudy of The Mind Your Health trial.”

“The randomized study found a 36% clinically significant improvement in weight loss with behavioral interventions through promotion of self-regulating eating and activity skills, reported Evan M. Forman, PhD, of Drexel University in Philadelphia, and colleagues, in Obesity.”

The study concludes: “Results offer strong support for the incorporation of acceptance-based skills into behavioral weight loss treatments, particularly among those with greater levels of depression, responsivity to the food environment, disinhibition, and emotional eating, and especially when interventions are provided by weight-control experts.”

MedPage also notes that an accompanying commentary indicates that “by focusing on the more valuable, long-term goals, over the immediate quantitate pound goal, long-term maintenance of a healthy lifestyle is more achievable.”