Obesity and Psychotherapy as an Alternative to Treatment

Poor Patients Adherence to Exercise and Group Therapy as an Approach to Obesity Treatment

Adherence to obesity treatment programs has been a limiting factor to good results in loosing weight. This study aimed to verify if obese subjects submitted to a physical exercise program and group psychotherapy would have a greater adherence, than obese people exercising only.

The sample was forty people, both genders, mean age: 42,2 ± 10,7 years old. Physical exercise consisted of walking and stretching three times a week, during 50 minutes, with intensity verified by the Borg Scale, during three months. One of the days were supervised by the authors while two were freely chosen by the participant, without supervision. The verified variables were: total body mass, height, body mass index, physical activity level, caloric expenditure, waist circumference and fat percentile. Half of the sample participated of group psychotherapy once weekly.

Inclusion Criteria:

• BMI >= 30 kg/m2

Exclusion Criteria:

• Age less than 25 or more than 62