Testing Strategies for Weight Loss, II

The proposed study, a 3-arm randomized control trial (RCT), would be tested with 66 patients at Philadelphia VA with BMIs between 30 and 40. Participants in the control group would receive usual care from their providers and monthly weigh ins. Participants in the incentive conditions will receive daily monitoring of their weights for 32 weeks, plus a package of financial incentives if they lose weight. Incentive group subjects will be given a weight loss target of 24 lbs in the first 24 weeks and will be able to choose a weight loss goal of 0, 0.5, or 1 lb per week for the final two months of the study. Financial incentives in the first deposit contract condition will consist of a potential payment for every day they are under their target weight which consists of the prorated daily amount of their deposit contract plus an equal 1:1 match provided by the study team for the first 6 months framed as 'weight loss period' and then for 2 months framed as 'maintenance of weight loss'. In the second deposit condition, the incentive consists of 8 months of the prorated daily amount of their deposit contract plus a 1:1 match (without the framing of 'weight loss' vs 'maintenance of weight loss'). We will have 80% power to find a 5 kg difference in weight loss between the intervention and control groups. Subjects who lose more than 20 pounds in either of the intervention groups will be eligible for an additional incentive. The proposed interventions will serve as the basis for a larger-scale intervention study of incentives for weight loss and maintenance that has the potential to substantially reduce the health burden of obesity among veterans.