Weight Control With Orlistat in a Telephone-Counseling Program

In this study, we aimed to describe the effectiveness of a short-term telephone-counseling program in combination with orlistat in overweight and obese outpatients and to test the influence of pre-treatment characteristics on weight-loss goals and achieved weight change. A total of 655 patients were contacted every 6 weeks, receiving an average of 5.2 telephone calls. Patients lost on average 7.7% of their initial weight during treatment. Reported weight-loss goals amounted to 17.8% of initial weight. Desired weight loss was positively related to weight at program start and age. Achieved weight loss was positively related to weight at program start, but not to sex and age. Low-intensity telephone treatment in combination with orlistat induced weight loss in an outpatient sample. At the end of treatment, patients judged lower-than-desired weight loss as satisfactory. Setting high weight-loss goals was a positive predictor of weight loss. However, long-term maintenance remains unclear.