The Healthy Weights Initiative: the first 1,000 participants

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographics of the first 1,000 HWI participants

Demographics	%
Gender
Male	24.0
Female	76.0
Age, years
65+	3.0
55–64	22.7
45–54	25.0
35–44	26.5
26–34	17.2
18–25	5.6
Mean age, years	44.7
Marital status
Married/common law	73.5
Single	26.5
Employment
Not employed	17.6
Nonprofessional	52.9
Professional	19.4
Education level
<High school	6.6
High school	34.3
College/technical/trades	42.4
University	16.4
Medical comorbidities
None	29.8
1	33.9
2	17.3
≥3	18.8

Abbreviation: HWI, Healthy Weights Initiative.

Table 2 Health differences in pre- and post-HWI completion parameters

Factors	Pre-HWI measure	Post-HWI measure	Difference	Significance
Physiological changes
Weight, kg	108.2 (21.6)	103.9 (22.1)	−4.3	0.000
BMI, kg/m^2	38.4 (6.9)	36.7 (6.6)	−1.7	0.000
Fat, kg	47.7 (12.4)	39.7 (12.9)	−8.0	0.000
Body fat, %	48.5 (4.1)	44.3 (5.1)	−4.2	0.000
Waist circumference, cm	115.57 (14.73)	108.20 (13.46)	−7.37	0.000
Hip circumference, cm	128.52 (16.26)	122.43 (14.99)	−6.09	0.000
Systolic BP, mmHg	129.4 (14.6)	126.0 (10.0)	−3.4	0.000
Diastolic BP, mmHg	82.6 (11.9)	80.4 (8.8)	−2.2	0.000
Blood glucose, mmoL	5.7 (1.8)	5.6 (1.2)	−0.1	0.081
Blood cholesterol, mmoL	4.9 (1.1)	4.5 (1.1)	−0.4	0.030
CAFT aerobic fitness, score	120.5 (117.1)	162.0 (135.9)	+41.5	0.000
Length of hard PA/week, minutes	46.4	130.0	+83.6	0.000
Length of moderate PA/week, minutes	75.4	195.5	+120.1	0.000
MSK pain score (average)	3.6/10 (0.4)	2.9/10 (0.5)	−0.7	0.001
SF-36 score
Physical functioning	60.0 (21.1)	70.8 (22.7)	+10.8	0.000
Limits - physical	69.1 (31.3)	57.4 (29.3)	−11.7	0.000
Pain	65.4 (20.9)	58.9 (20.9)	−6.5	0.000
General health	47.8 (19.2)	60.2 (19.0)	+12.4	0.000
Vitality	42.7 (16.1)	58.6 (16.1)	+15.9	0.000
Social functioning	63.0 (23.7)	72.2 (23.6)	+9.2	0.000
Limits - emotional	70.3 (31.8)	62.0 (28.8)	−8.3	0.000
Emotional well-being	58.7 (18.2)	67.6 (18.4)	+8.9	0.000
Physical composite score	43.7 (9.2)	48.9 (7.7)	+5.2	0.000
Mental composite score	46.3 (11.4)	51.2 (8.2)	+4.9	0.000
Depressed mood
BDI-II score	10.4 (7.2)	6.3 (6.3)	−4.1	0.000
Severe/extreme (31+)	1.8%	0.3%	−1.5%
Moderate (21–30)	6.6%	4.5%	−2.1%
Borderline (17–20)	12.9%	2.3%	−10.6%
Mild (11–16)	22.7%	9.3%	−13.4%
No depressed mood	56.0%	83.6%	+27.6%
Depressed mood (11+)	44.0%	16.4%	−27.6%	0.000
Self-reported health
Poor	16.4%	2.3%	−14.1%	0.000
Fair	41.9%	17.8%	−24.1%
Good	33.4%	50.5%	+17.1%
Very good/excellent	8.2%	28.9%	+20.7%
Self-reported mental health
Poor	3.8%	0%	−3.8%	0.000
Fair	17.1%	8.0%	−8.9%
Good	44.1%	45.5%	+1.4%
Very good/excellent	35.0%	46.5%	+11.5%
Health care utilization
Doctor visits (mean)a	1.8 (0.4)	1.3 (0.5)	−0.5	0.061
Hospitalizationsa				0.072
0	74.5%	82.7%	+8.2%
1	14.4%	12.5%	−1.9%
2	3.3%	3.1%	−0.2%
≥3	7.8%	1.7%	−6.1%
Medications (mean)	1.4 (0.3)	1.2 (0.4)	−0.2	0.073
Smoking				0.000
Daily smoker	16.2%	10.6%	−5.6%
Dietary behaviors (consumption/day)
Meat	1.3 (0.7)	1.4 (0.8)	+0.1	0.056
Fruit	1.3 (1.1)	2.1 (1.2)	+0.8	0.000
Vegetables	1.7 (1.1)	2.3 (1.2)	+0.6	0.000
Milk	0.8 (1.0)	0.9 (1.0)	+0.1	0.069
Popular food	0.7 (1.1)	0.3 (0.7)	−0.4	0.001
Fast food	1.4 (1.1)	0.9 (0.8)	−0.5	0.000

Notes: The values in the pre-HWI measure and post-HWI measure columns were presented as mean (SD) or %.

a Doctor visits and hospitalizations are measured from 3 months before the program started and 3 months after the program.

Abbreviations: BDI, Beck Depression Inventory; BMI, body mass index; BP, blood pressure; CAFT, Canadian Aerobic Fitness Test; HWI, Healthy Weights Initiative; MSK, musculoskeletal; PA, physical activity; SD, standard deviation; SF-36, 36-Item Short Form Health Survey.