Research

Adherence

Proactive, personalized lifestyle coaching significantly increases patient engagement (messaging frequency and app usage) in semaglutide-supported digital obesity programs, but does not significantly improve short-term (16-week) weight loss compared to reactive, standardized coaching.

If you are using semaglutide with a digital coaching program, expect that a proactive coaching style will make you feel more supported and engaged (more messages, more app opens). However, do not assume this increased engagement will automatically lead to more weight loss in the first 4 months. The medication and basic lifestyle changes drive the weight loss, while the coaching style drives the feeling of support. Stick to the program regardless of engagement levels, as the weight loss outcomes are similar between high and low engagement groups in the short term.

ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
The comparative analysis found that patients who received lifestyle coaching that was proactive and personalised sent a statistically higher number of messages to their health coach (Mean=19.37 vs Mean=8.55) and opened the program app more frequently (Mean = 49.31 days vs Mean = 40.06 days) than patients whose coaching was reactive and standardised. Mean 16-week weight loss was 10.1% in the proactive group compared to 8.9% in the reactive group, but the difference was not statistically significant.
Louis Talay et al. · Cureus · 2024

Why this rating

Retrospective cohort study with a relatively small sample size (n=154) and short duration (16 weeks), limiting generalizability and long-term inference.

Source

The Effect of Lifestyle Coaching Design on Patient Engagement and Weight Loss in Non-diabetic Patients of a Semaglutide-Supported Digital Obesity Program in the UK: A Comparative Retrospective Cohort Study

Louis Talay et al. · Cureus · 2024

DOI 10.7759/cureus.74321

cohort · n=154Cited 4×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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