Factors associated with food choice among long‐term weight loss maintainers

Background The present study aimed to examine motivations for food choice among long‐term weight loss maintainers (WLM) in a widely used commercial weight management program. Methods A cross‐sectional study was employed where determinants of food choice were measured in the USA using validated scales: Food Choice Questionnaire, Consideration of Future Consequences, and Eating in the Absence of Hunger. Participants were 3806 WLM following a commercial weight management program (WW International, Inc.) who had maintained a weight loss ≥ 9.1 kg (mean 24.7 kg) for 3.3 years and had a body mass index (BMI) of 27.6 kg m 2 . A control group of weight stable individuals with obesity (controls; n = 519) had a BMI of 38.9 kg m 2 and a weight change < 2.3 kg over the previous 5 years. Results WLM vs. controls made food decisions more based on health (18.9 vs. 16.3; η p 2 = 0.052) and weight control (9.9 vs. 7.5; η p 2 = 0.16) and less based on price (8.4 vs. 9.1; η p 2 = 0.10). WLM also scored higher than controls with respect to considering future consequences of behaviours (44.3 vs. 38.4; η p 2 = 0.060) and reported less external eating in the absence of hunger (7.1 vs. 7.5; η p 2 = 0.058). Standard canonical coefficients indicated that making food choices based on weight (0.717) with less value placed on price (−0.33) and greater consideration of future consequences (0.262) contributed independently and most (overall r = 0.593; p = 0.0001) to discriminating WLM from controls. Conclusions In a widely used commercial weight management program, successful WLM reported food decisions based more on weight and less on price and considered future consequences of current behaviours.