EFFECTS OF A PERSONAL TRAINER AND FINANCIAL INCENTIVES ON EXERCISE ADHERENCE IN OVERWEIGHT WOMEN IN A BEHAVIORAL WEIGHT-LOSS PROGRAM

Exercise is important for long-term weight loss, but few studies have examined ways to improve exercise adherence in overweight subjects par ticipating in a behavioral weight loss program, This paper presents tw o studies, one conducted at the University of Pittsburgh and one at th e University of Minnesota, that sought to improve exercise adherence b y exerting more direct control over the environmental antecedents and consequences controlling exercise, Study 1 investigated the use of a p ersonal trainer who called participants regularly and met them at thei r home or office at scheduled times for a walk, Study 2 investigated t he effect of a lottery incentive for exercise adherence, In both studi es, the effect of these manipulations was examined in the context of a 24-week standard behavioral weight control program with three supervi sed exercise sessions per week, Neither intervention achieved statisti cally significant improvements in exercise adherence compared to contr ol conditions, perhaps due in part to the limited statistical power of the studies, Future studies should focus on better understanding the barriers to exercise and designing behavioral interventions that addre ss these barriers.