Abstract

Evaluation of a Commercial Telehealth Weight Loss and Management Program

Win Guan, Andrew Thaw, Sabrina N. Grondhuis, Andi Schaechter

Objective: This study assesses the effectiveness of the Bright Line Eating Boot Camp (BLE: BC), an eight-week
telehealth weight management program.
Methods: Data come from participants in the BLE: BC research program. The final sample (n=5,374) contained
primarily white adults (92.8%), females (95.2%), and individuals who reported high socioeconomic status (96.0%
had completed at least some college and 47.4% reported an annual family income of at least $100,000). We focus in
this manuscript on the primary outcomes of percent weight loss and change in body mass index from baseline.
Secondary outcomes include program satisfaction and perceptions of healthy eating.
Results: Approximately 95% of participants lost weight between baseline and completion of the BLE: BC. During
the eight weeks, average percent weight loss was 7.8 (SD=7.5) and body mass index declined by an average of 2.6
(SD=2.3). Spearman’s correlation tests show that participants who reported expending more effort and participating
more in the program reported greater percent weight loss (rs=0.39, p<0.001 and rs=0.34, p<0.001, respectively) and
larger reduction in body mass index (rs=0.36, p<0.001 and rs=0.33, p<0.001, respectively). The majority of
participants (88.6%) reported being satisfied with the program and 90.4% reported that healthy eating became
easier.
Conclusion: The results of this study support the efficacy of the BLE: BC as a fully online, telehealth weight loss
program. Future studies should assess the long-term weight loss and maintenance of BLE: BC participants and
endeavor to specify mechanisms for the observed weight change. Although we acknowledge limitations in
generalizability of the results due to the lack of a comparison group and selection bias in the sample, the results
show clinically-significant weight loss among the majority of BLE: BC participants.

Published Date: 2018-11-16; Received Date: 2018-10-11