Background

It is generally known that the principle treatment of obesity is life-style modification and behavior therapy for weight reduction. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of office-based education for weight control and behavior modification in overweight patients.

Methods
We selected 119 patients among the overweight or obese (BMI ≥23 kg/m²) patients who visited the Department of Family Medicine at Asan Medical Center. Life styles such as diet, exercise, smoking, and alcohol drinking were evaluated by self-questionnaire. Weight, height, body mass index, waist circumference, waist to hip ratio, and body fat were measured. The patients were divided randomly into two groups, the intervention (n=60) and the control (n=59) group. We educated the intervention group about the importance of weight reduction, life-style modification and provided specific guidelines. Two months later, we measured anthropometric variables and evaluated changes of behavior modification.

Results
After two months, 28 patients of the intervention group and 22 patients of the control group were followed up. At the follow-up time, the body weight and waist circumference decreased significantly in the intervention group compared with those of the control group. The exercise time increased significantly in the intervention group compared to the control group. The frequency of fatty meal ingestion decreased significantly in the intervention group.

Conclusions
The office-based education for weight reduction in overweight or obese patients has contributed substantially in changing their life-style and reducing their waist circumference. As a result, we have found that patient education for behavior modification was essential part of comprehensive approach for weight control in overweight patients.