NHS weight loss programs aren't working

Its official, remote weight loss programs are better than physician guided approaches - according to research published in the BMJ.com (British Medical Journal) remote weight loss programs like Weight Watchers get better results than our NHS weight loss programs.

740 overweight or obese adults took part in the study that lasted 12 weeks, each was entered into either one of three commercial group based programs or three weight loss programs offered through the NHS.

Those on the Weight Watchers program lost almost three times more weight than those in the physician-supervised group. In fact, all of the commercial programs were more successful than the NHS programs.

Interestingly and possibly more importantly in my opinion, even after a year on the programs, those on the commercial programs had still lost the most. So many people that achieve weight loss struggle to keep it off in the long term, either going back to old ways or getting disheartened because the initial progress they made tails off.

The study also found that the NHS programs were actually more expensive than the NHS offerings - does this mean that  government will take guidance from the private sector or even offer the commercial programs as a solution instead - I doubt it!