Weight management program looking for participants

The Health Psychology Center and Department of Psychology are launching a weight management program and are looking for 40 women to participate.

The Women's Weight Management Program is open to faculty and staff who are at least 20 pounds overweight, have no serious illnesses and are willing to make a weekly commitment lasting 10 weeks.

NAU graduate health clinicians will run the program, trained and supervised by clinical health psychologists Lesley Lutes and Suzanne Daiss of NAU's Department of Psychology. Lutes specializes in weight management; the NAU program is based on clinical trials completed with colleagues at the University of Florida and Virginia Polytechnic and State University.

Participants will receive individual health and wellness assessments before and after the program consisting of a seven-day nutrition analysis of their diet, understanding their physical activity patterns, blood pressure monitoring, body mass index measure, lipid panels, waist measurements and self-reports of quality of life and general well being related to weight and overall health.

"The main problem with a lot of attempts to lose weight is that people start to make changes without first understanding their specific patterns and challenges," Lutes said. "The goal of this program is to first gain a clear understanding of each individual's patterns and to develop—together—a realistic, individualized plan to get people on the road to making small, but meaningful, changes in their lives."

The program is targeted at women, "given the issues related to binge eating and emotional content," Lutes said.

The cost to participate in the 10-week program is $165, which includes the cost of program materials, lipid panels, a calorie book, copies of weekly food records and a pedometer for tracking daily physical activity.

Participants who complete the program have the option of a free six-month follow up focused on continued weight loss that contributes to clinic research.

Contact: (928) 523-2161.