Food selection and eating behaviour during weight maintenance intervention and 2-y follow-up in obese men

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to assess long-term changes in food consumption and eating behaviour during and 2 y after dietary counselling in weight-reduced obese men. DESIGN: Observational study from a randomised controlled trial. SETTING: Outpatient clinic of a research institute. SUBJECTS: A total of 36 subjects with complete data on food intake during the study. Subjects were obese ( mean body mass index (BMI) 32.8 kg/m(2)) men aged 35-50 y, recruited by media advertising. INTERVENTIONS: Dietary counselling was included in 2 months weight reduction with very-low-energy-diet and in 6 months weight maintenance programme, which also included physical activity counselling. This was followed by a 23 months unsupervised follow-up with yearly assessments. Food intake was assessed six times during the study by 4-day food records. Eating behaviour was assessed by Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ). RESULTS: Increased consumption of low-fat cheese, low-fat margarine, vegetables and high-fibre bread, and decreased consumption of sugar, sausage, high-fat cheese, high-fat margarine, fat products and sweets were observed during dietary counselling. Most of these changes returned later to prestudy consumption level. The relapse in dietary changes was partly associated with scoring low in restraint and high in disinhibition and hunger. CONCLUSION: In obese men, long-term maintenance of dietary changes was difficult. New ways to ease self-monitoring and increase self-efficacy might be necessary to improve maintenance of dietary changes.