Behavioural Science & Weight Management

The National Institution for Health and Care Excellence, the leading authority in the Department of Health, defines the prevention of weight gain as “to keep to a lower weight than the person would have been if they had not lost weight in the first place.”1

If you are or have been treated with chemotherapy or hormone therapy you may find yourself gaining weight in the long-term. Other factors that may contribute to weight gain include less physical activity, the strain of relationships at home and at work, financial stress, and the disruption of cancer in your life.

Boutros Bear recognises this as a serious concern since research has shown that weight gain is associated not only with increased risk of cancer but also increased likelihood of recurrence.2 As a result, we have carefully designed the exercise and nutrition components of our 12-week programme to address this.

Behavioural science plays an important role. Research has shown that weight management interventions using behavioural change techniques may lead to more weight loss,3, 4 in particular, behavioural interventions targeting dietary and physical activity behaviours are effective in not only slowing weight regain but may also have long-term health benefits. 5 Some techniques Boutros Bear employs include intention formation, goal setting, performance feedback, self-monitoring of behaviour, and review of goals. These are evidence-based techniques that have been shown to be clinically effective in mitigating weight regain.3, 4

During the 12-week programme, you will find our insights integrated into your consultation sessions with our care team, as well as our structured content. If you are concerned about weight gain, please don’t hesitate to talk to our care team about your needs. We are always here to help you navigate your patient journey, every step of the way!

Rex Fan

Works at Boutros Bear

Former Boutros Bear employee

Rex has extensive experience designing Behavioural Interventions through Randomised Control Trials, and deriving deep behavioural insights to be integrated into digital products and services.

References

  1. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ph53/chapter/7-glossary
  2. Ecker, B. L., Lee, J. Y., Sterner, C. J., Solomon, A. C., Pant, D. K., Shen, F., … & Chodosh, L. A. (2019). Impact of obesity on breast cancer recurrence and minimal residual disease. Breast Cancer Research, 21(1), 1-16.
  3. Michie, S., Abraham, C., Whittington, C., McAteer, J., & Gupta, S. (2009). Effective techniques in healthy eating and physical activity interventions: a meta-regression. Health psychology, 28(6), 690.
  4. Dombrowski, S. U., Sniehotta, F. F., Avenell, A., Johnston, M., MacLennan, G., & Araújo-Soares, V. (2012). Identifying active ingredients in complex behavioural interventions for obese adults with obesity-related co-morbidities or additional risk factors for co-morbidities: a systematic review. Health Psychology Review, 6(1), 7-32.
  5. Dombrowski, S. U., Knittle, K., Avenell, A., Araújo-Soares, V., & Sniehotta, F. F. (2014). Long term maintenance of weight loss with non-surgical interventions in obese adults: systematic review and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials. Bmj, 348.