Lifestyle and Behavioral Changes: A Pathway to Weight Reduction and Pain Management in Overweight and Obese Women

Introduction:

The cause of weight gain is multidimensional ranging from dietary habits, physical activity levels, sleep patterns, and stress management and is associated directly and indirectly with many physical ailments and chronic diseases. Hence, a multidimensional approach to weight loss is needed. Research has also shown that women are affected more compared to men. The present study aims to study the effect of lifestyle and behavior modification on the anthropometric measurements, physical ailments and chronic pain of overweight and obese women.

Methods:

This record review study was conducted using the data of overweight and obese women who participated in a 3-month nutritionist-led online weight loss program in the year 2023. This program focusses on early sleep, early wake up, better mastication behaviour, caloric restriction, breathwork, strength training and stress management along with online yoga sessions thrice a week.

Results:

In total, 45 women participated in the program and data of 22 participants was available for analysis. The mean weight of the subjects at baseline was 78.10 ± 10.85 kg which reduced in the 1^st month to 74.52 ± 10.72, then gradually to 71.91 ± 10.89 kg by the end of the 2^nd month and reached 69.61 ± 10.41 kg by the end of the 3^rd month. In the 3-month period, all study participants lost more than 5% of total body weight with a 3.42 kg/m² (SD, ± 0.88) reduction in body mass index (BMI). Statistically significant changes were found for the selected girth measurements. The number of ailments and chronic pain reduced from 15.59 ± 9.18 at baseline to 5.95 ± 4.37 (p<0.01) at the end of 3 months.

Conclusion:

The study concludes that lifestyle and behavior modification-based weight loss program significantly improves the weight, BMI, girth measurements and the physical ailments and chronic pain of overweight and obese women.