Mixed
A multidisciplinary outpatient obesity treatment program utilizing a very-low-energy diet (VLED) followed by long-term maintenance and pharmacotherapy achieves clinically significant weight loss (mean 3.5% at 3 years) and improves retention rates compared to lifestyle methods alone.
For severe obesity, relying on willpower and standard dieting often leads to weight regain. A structured medical approach using a very-low-energy diet (around 550-800 calories) for initial loss, followed by regular check-ins and potentially appetite-suppressing medication, can help maintain a clinically meaningful weight loss (around 3.5%) over three years. This approach addresses the physiological drive to regain weight.
In summary, in an outpatient weight management clinic, patients who undertook a VLED-based programme and continued in follow-up achieved a clinically significant weight loss at 3 years, particularly if pharmacotherapy was used for weight loss maintenance.
Why this rating
Retrospective chart review of a single clinic's outcomes; lacks a randomized control group but has a large sample size (n=1109).
Source
Review of 3‐year outcomes of a very‐low‐energy diet‐based outpatient obesity treatment programme
Priya Sumithran et al. · Clinical Obesity · 2016
DOI 10.1111/cob.12135
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