Purpose: The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics supports meal replacement (MR) programs as an effective diet-related weight management strategy. While MR programs have been successful promoting initial weight loss, weight regain has been as high as 50% 1 year following MR program participation. The purpose of this article is to identify barriers to and facilitators of weight loss (WL) and weight loss maintenance (WM) among individuals participating in a MR program.
Methods: Sixty-one MR program clients participated in focus groups (WL = 29, WM = 32). Barriers and facilitators were discussed until saturation of themes was reached. Focus group transcriptions were coded into themes to identify the barriers to and facilitators of weight management that emerged within each phase. Queries were run to assess frequencies of references to each theme.
Results: The primary barriers within the WL phase included program products, physical activity, and social settings. WM phase participants referenced nutrition, lack of health coach knowledge, and physical activity as barriers. Personal benfits, ability to adhere to the program, and family support emerged as leading facilitators for WL phase participants. Personal benefits, health coach support, and physical activity emerged as facilitators by WM phase participants.
Conclusions: Health coaches have the unique opportunity to use perceived facilitators to improve participant success, and help participants address their personal barriers in order to progress through successful, long-term weight management. Current health coaching models used in MRP should aim to identify participants' specific barriers and develop steps to overcome them.
Keywords: focus groups; lifestyle change; obesity; physical activity; qualitative methods.