Treatment of obesity in three rural primary care practices.

The experience of three rural primary care practices in treating obesity is described. Treatment alternatives utilized include behavior modification with a balanced deficit diet, use of the protein-sparing modified fast in a group setting, and use of this technique in conjunction with behavior modification on an individual basis. The results of these three case studies are evaluated by an index approach as well as the traditional mean pounds lost. Although treatment of obesity is often avoided because of reported low success rates, this study demonstrates that a family physician has more success than previously reported, with one of the sites showing maintenance of weight loss in 84 percent of a selected group of its patients.