Rethinking Eating and FITness for Men
Condition: Weight Loss; Overweight
MeSH terms: Overweight; Weight Loss
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The purpose of this study is to test the effect of a new three-month behavioral weight loss
      program among adult men. Weight will be measured at three and six months post randomization.
      The intervention will be compared to a wait-list control group. Participants will be 112
      overweight and obese men (18-65) living in the Chapel Hill/Raleigh/Durham area. The
      behavioral intervention tested will be delivered online with two face-to-face group meetings.
      Intervention content will be delivered via email and online. It is hypothesized that men
      randomized to the REFIT intervention will lose more weight at 3 months than men randomized to
      the wait-list group.
    

Detailed description: 
      Obesity is one of the greatest threats to modern public health. It is associated with
      negative physical and mental health outcomes as well as increased healthcare expenditures.
      Throughout the time period that the prevalence of overweight and obesity have been monitored
      in the United States, men have consistently been more likely than women to be overweight and;
      conversely, women have been more likely to be obese. Recent trends suggest that this
      situation may be changing. Over the past decade, the prevalence of obesity has increased
      among men while it has stabilized among women. For the first time, men and women have near
      equal rates of obesity where approximately 35.7% of American adults are classified as obese;
      meanwhile, men continue to be more overweight than women.

      The epidemiological trends have lead to a focus on creating weight loss programs that can aid
      overweight and obese adults in losing excess weight. Behavioral interventions for obesity
      have demonstrated the ability to produce weight losses of approximately 5-10% of initial body
      weight. These weight losses have been associated with decreased risk for type II diabetes,
      reduced blood pressure, and improvement in mental health outcomes. Unfortunately, men
      typically do not take advantage of such programs. Across multiple literature reviews, men
      consistently make up approximately 27% of study samples. This has lead to a situation where
      researchers have little information about how to enroll men in weight loss programs and what
      kind of programs are of interest to men. In order to combat the increased obesity in men and
      help them to avoid the negative consequences of obesity, it is important to help overweight
      and obese men change their eating and physical activity habits within the context of
      organized weight loss programs.

      The REFIT (Rethinking Eating and FITness) intervention is an intervention developed to
      address men's needs for weight loss while balancing their need to perform behaviors which are
      seen as masculine. Men typically eat a diet that is associated with weight gain rather than
      weight loss. The REFIT intervention will focus on changing eating and exercise behaviors
      within a structured weight loss program that will allow men to maintain their autonomy.
      Autonomy is a central characteristic of enacted masculinity and has been described in
      qualitative research as a necessary aspect of a weight loss program for men. The intervention
      will focus on encouraging changes in eating and activity through increasing self-efficacy,
      autonomous motivation, outcome expectancies, and self-regulation for weight loss behaviors.
      The development of this intervention has been guided by qualitative research focused on what
      men want and need from weight loss programs as well as previous research focused on weight
      loss among both men and women. The approach to be used in the REFIT intervention is
      innovative as a combination of the "small changes" approach that has been used in weight gain
      prevention as well as the client centered deficit approaches used by Lutes and colleagues and
      Sbrocco and colleagues in weight loss programs.
    

Intervention name(s): REFIT Intervention
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The intervention will include 2 face-to-face group meetings, weekly check-in sessions, weekly tailored feedback, and weekly lessons focused on specific weight loss behaviors. All participants will be encouraged increase their physical activity to approximately 250 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment