Association between Weight Discrimination and Program Adherence in a Clinical Weight Management Program

ABSTRACT Background: Weight stigma is a common occurrence for those living with obesity. While the detrimental effects of weight stigma on health are well known, it is unclear if it also impacts on adherence (and levels of compliance) within a medically supervised weight loss setting. Method: Participants from a local weight loss clinic completed a battery of weight discrimination questions at their first site visit (n=120) and were tracked for program adherence. Results: Although the majority of patients (77.5%) experienced weight discrimination, no differences in treatment time were observed. At the end of one month, significantly more of the discriminated group remained in the program (no weight discrimination: 22.2%; weight discrimination: 46.2%), an effect that diminished with time. Conclusion: Results suggest that the prevalence of weight discrimination in a clinical weight loss setting is high, but did not directly impact on program adherence or weight loss outcomes.