Dr. Jim Annesi joined the YMCA of Metro Atlanta in early 2000 as Director of Wellness Advancement. He is also Professor of Health Promotion, and Community Health Promotion Research and Development Liaison, at Kennesaw State University’s Wellstar College of Health and Human Services. He was previously on the faculties of Rutgers University and The College of New Jersey, and held clinical and research positions at the Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Trinitas Medical Center, and Enhanced Performance Technologies. He was elected as a Fellow of The American Academy of Health Behavior in 2011, and The Obesity Society and the American Psychological Association in 2014.
Dr. Annesi’s research program includes approximately 135 peer-reviewed publications related to health behavior change theory and methods applied to exercise adherence, weight management, and the effects of physical activity on mental health, self-image, and other quality-of-life factors. His recent findings on the linkages between physical activity, psychosocial changes, and sustained weight loss form the theoretical bases for an emerging system for the large-scale treatment and prevention of obesity in both adults and children – with an emphasis on maintaining healthy weights. His study articulating some of these findings was the “most read” article in the journal Behavioral Medicine for the years 2012-2013. His research in the late 1990’s initiated the use of “virtual reality” into exercise behavior change.
Dr. Annesi also authored over a hundred articles and chapters for health promotion practitioners, and 3 books that translate scientific research for applied use. His evidence-based programs, THE COACH APPROACH, Youth Fit 4 Life, Start For Life, and The Health and Fitness Experience, are presently used within a variety of preventive medicine, community health promotion, university, and academic medicine settings in the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, and Japan. Their research and development have been supported by agencies such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, U.S. Department of Education, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Canadian Interior Health Authority, along with numerous private foundations.
Questions & Answers
A great amount of research, trial and error, and retesting has gone into the development of the Weight Loss For Life protocol, so it should be delivered as indicated in the manual and its other supporting material. We are presently testing its relative effectiveness for applications related to college students, diabetes prevention/treatment, and individuals with class 3 (morbid) obesity. Applications with many other groups, including adolescents, are being planned. It is not applicable for individuals unable to exercise, or those with disorders requiring specific diets and/or other contraindications.
Self-regulation is a key to many behavioral changes. However, when individuals are unable to stay with appropriate eating or regular physical activity they are often branded as “unmotivated” or “they did not really want it enough.” A key to the Weight Loss For Life intervention is the building of self-regulatory skills (e.g., restructuring unproductive self-talk, planning for “slips” in one’s routine) first through manageable amounts of exercise, then generalizing (or carrying over) those learned skills to control one’s eating. As the self-regulatory skills become more and more resilient, they are able to address barriers to a greater extent. The result is the rare occurrence of being able to maintain lost weight over the long term, rather than over just a few months.
A challenge to Weight Loss For Life is the numerous commercial weight loss programs that promise major results over a brief time with little effort. Unfortunately, obesity is a chronic condition that requires persistence.
Improvements in physical activity and controlled eating primarily require strong behavior-change methods. Thus, an interest in utilizing the most current behavior-change methods in an innovative manner is needed for success with Weight Loss For Life. Most weight-management programs rely on an information exchange between the practitioner and client on exercises and diets. That has been insufficient for obtaining weight loss beyond the first several months.
My research program focuses on health behavior-change theory and methods applied to exercise adherence, weight management, and the effects of physical activity on mental health, self-image, and other quality-of-life factors across the lifespan. Five of the interventions stemming from this research are listed in the Research-tested Intervention Programs (RTIPs) web site. More recently, I have researched the positive effects of even minimal amounts of physical activity on mood, emotional eating, and weight.