Assignment: Challenges with Maintaining Weight Loss
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to compare your habits to those that have been shown to be successful at maintaining weight loss according to the National Weight Control Registry and to practice reading and evaluating research studies.
Directions
Part 1:
According to the National Weight Control Registry there are many factors that help people to keep weight off once they have lost it. Some of these factors include: maintaining a low calorie, low fat diet; eating breakfast every day; weighing themselves at least once a week; watching less than 10 hours of TV per week; exercising about 1 hour per day.
1. Looking at your own diet and lifestyle habits, comment on how successful you would be at maintaining weight loss. Be sure to comment on your success at each of the habits listed above plus any additional factors listed in the National Weight Control Registry.
2. If you were trying to maintain weight loss, what additional barriers do you think you might encounter? Describe a minimum of three barriers in detail.
You should use sources from both the current and previous weeks to help determine and discuss the additional barriers you might encounter. Make sure you cite your sources appropriately using MLA format.
Part 2:
In order to be successful in this course you will need to have a basic understanding of basic research methods and how to evaluate research data, especially whether the results represent causation or correlation.
1. Find a research article on any topic related to strategies for successful weight loss. Browse the JWU Library's list of databases to search for an article. You can use any academic database, but you may find that Academic Search Complete database will be most helpful.
2. Provide the title of the article and a brief overview of the study.
3. Provide an overview of the methodology and results of the research article.
4. Answer the following questions using your article. Be sure to include specific examples from the article to illustrate your answers.
a. How well was the research done?
b. Do you feel that there are limitations in the research design?
c. Are the results interpreted correctly?
d. Do the results show a correlation or causation? Provide examples and justification for your answer.
5. Include a citation of your article in MLA format.