CSIRO researchers believe personal responsibility and financial incentives could be the key to helping everyday Australians lose weight.
The agency’s Total Wellbeing Diet program includes an unconventional refund incentive which encourages longer participation, higher engagement and hopefully greater weight loss for consumers.
The CSIRO's 'Total Wellbeing Diet' online. Source: SBS News
“After analysis, we found that people who tracked their progress and weighed in regularly and claimed the program’s refund incentive lost 54 per cent more weight than those who completed the program without claiming it,” CSIRO research scientist Dr Gilly Hendrie said.
“Our report showed some people found a financial driver motivated them to overcome the internal hurdles that otherwise hold them back.”
The program has already worked for Melbourne resident Trish Spink, who lost nine and a half kilos.
She said the habits she learnt then helped her continue to lose an extra 12 kilos and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
The CSIRO's research scientist Dr Gilly Hendrie. Source: SBS News
“If you know you can achieve your goal then get your refund at the end of it, that’s a really good incentive, I know that’s what motivated me to keep going“, Ms Spink said.
“Things are so tight with people now… to have to pay for someone to teach you how to eat properly, you don’t want to do that, but by getting that refund it’s like you’re not really paying it in the end and you still learn a lot.”
But clinical psychologists like Sydney’s Louise Adams are warning Australians to proceed with caution.
“So the CSIRO has been talking with great enthusiasm about this program and refunding and how great that’s been for weight loss but when you look at numbers there's a different story,” she said.
“They looked at 13,000 people but only 2900 completed the program so that means that 80% of people are not completing the program.”
The CSIRO argued the program was more than a diet, with scientific-evidence supporting lasting patterns for sustained weight loss.
It said the report showed those who completed the 12-week program and got their money back lost an average of 6.2 per cent of their initial body weight, compared to a four per cent loss for people who did not claim a refund.
“That difference might not sound like a lot, but that was an average of 5.6kg – and anyone who’s tried to lower their weight before knows every kilogram lost is a success,” Dr Hendrie said.
Psychologist Louise Adams. Source: SBS News
“We know that losing more than five per cent of your body weight is considered clinically relevant, significantly reducing an obese person’s risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke, so losing 6.2 per cent could really improve a person’s health.”
Money made from the CSIRO program or any others is reinvested into further scientific research. But Ms Adams maintains change has to come from society, not a program.
She said the key to creating a healthier culture was by developing a successful relationship with food and observing and understanding the body’s natural signals when it comes to hunger, enjoyment, satisfaction and feeling full.
Source: SBS News
“We have gotten bigger as a culture, just as we’ve gotten taller, however, we don’t hear about the tallness epidemic and no one is wringing their hands about it,” she said.
“We do have larger people and we can look after them in a way that doesn’t encourage weight stigma or unhealthy relationships with food.
“Dieting really just gives us a whole set of rules, we always feel like we’re failing at.”
