Effective Weight Loss: An Acceptance-Based Behavioral Approach: Clinician Guide

Effective Weight Loss is an evidence-based program designed to help clients achieve sustainable weight loss by integrating behavioral strategies with acceptance-based psychological techniques. This clinician guide presents a structured, session-by-session approach to facilitating long-term weight control in a way that aligns with clients' values. A client workbook is downloadable separately.

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Introduction and Principles of Treatment

Chapter 1 – Session 1: Welcome

Chapter 2 – Session 2: Calorie-Cutting Keys

Chapter 3 – Session 3: Goal Setting; Weighing and Measuring

Chapter 4 – Session 4: Labels, Planning, and Calorie Accounting

Chapter 5 – Session 5: Control What You Can, Accept What You Can't; The Home Food Enviroment

Chapter 6 – Session 6: Physical Activity and Willingness (Part 1)

Chapter 7 – Session 7: Willingness (Part 2) and Values

Chapter 8 – Session 8: Forming Good Habits and Flexibility

Chapter 9 – Session 9: Restaurant Eating; Handling Weekends and Special Occasions

Chapter 10 – Session 10: Barriers to Living a Valued Life

Chapter 11 – Session 11: Friends and Family

Chapter 12 – Session 12: Introduction to Defusion and Urge Surfing

Chapter 13 – Session 13: Strategies to Help Defuse and Increase Willingness

Chapter 14 – Session 14: Review of Dietary Principles, Mindless Eating (Part 1), and Portion Sizes

Chapter 15 – Session 15: Mindless Eating (Part 2) and Mindful Decision-Making

Chapter 16 – Session 16: Transitioning to Biweekly Meetings

Chapter 17 – Session 17: Maintaining Losses Over the Long Term

Chapter 18 – Session 18: Willingness and Reducing Barriers to Physical Activity

Chapter 19 – Session 19: Committed Action

Chapter 20 – Session 20: Overeating and Emotional Eating

Chapter 21 – Session 21: Lapse Versus Relapse and Reversing Small Weight Gains

Chapter 22 – Session 22: Revisiting Commitment and Transition to Monthly/Bimonthly Meetings

Chapter 23 – Session 23: Maintaining Motivation

Chapter 24 – Session 24: Looking Ahead

Chapter 25 – Session 25: Celebrating Accomplishments

Appendices

References

Front Matter

Overview

Effective Weight Loss provides a scientifically validated solution to the challenge of sustainable weight control. With over two-thirds of U.S. adults classified as overweight or obese, the health risks of excess weight, including heart disease and diabetes, are significant, yet long-term weight loss remains difficult to achieve. Written by Evan M. Forman and Meghan Butryn, this book introduces acceptance-based treatment (ABT), an innovative approach that builds on cognitive and behavioral principles while incorporating acceptance-based strategies to address the psychological and emotional barriers to weight management. By fostering psychological flexibility, ABT helps individuals make health-conscious, values-driven decisions even in the face of cravings or discomfort. Research shows ABT leads to greater and more lasting weight loss compared to traditional treatments, particularly for those prone to emotional eating or food cue reactivity. Combining proven behavioral tools like self-monitoring with strategies such as mindful decision-making and acceptance, this program offers a practical framework for achieving and maintaining meaningful weight loss.

Why Use This Resource?

Sustainable weight loss requires more than dietary changes; it requires behavioral and psychological adaptation. This guide helps clinicians facilitate long-term success through:

A structured approach that combines nutritional, physical activity, and psychological components.
Strategies that improve adherence and long-term motivation for lifestyle change.
Tools for managing cravings, urges, and barriers to weight loss.
A flexible framework that is adaptable to individual client needs and goals.

Key Benefits

Structured

Provides a step-by-step session format to guide clinicians through treatment.

Psychological

Integrates acceptance-based strategies to enhance adherence and commitment.

Behavioral

Encourages evidence-based weight control behaviors, including self-monitoring and environmental restructuring.

Long-Term

Focuses on weight maintenance as well as loss, addressing common barriers to sustained success.

Trusted

Part of the Treatments That Work™ series, developed by leading experts.

Who is this for?

Obesity

Clients with a BMI over 30 who seek structured behavioral support for weight loss.

Overweight

Clients with a BMI over 25 aiming to improve health outcomes.

Emotional Eating

Clients who engage in overeating in response to negative emotions or stress.

Integrating it into your practice

Assess

Evaluate clients' weight history, motivations, and barriers to change.

Educate

Teach clients about energy balance, self-monitoring, and effective goal setting.

Commit

Help clients clarify values and set realistic, meaningful weight loss goals.

Monitor

Use food records, weight tracking, and behavioral logs to ensure adherence.

Adjust

Modify interventions based on client progress and emerging challenges.

Prevent

Implement relapse prevention strategies and long-term maintenance plans.

Theoretical Background & Therapist Guidance

Weight control is a significant health concern, with over two thirds of adults in the United States classified as overweight or obese. Obesity increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and reduced quality of life. Even a modest 5% weight loss can improve health markers like blood pressure, glycemic control, and cholesterol levels (Goldstein, 1992). However, sustaining weight loss is difficult. While diet programs can lead to short-term results (3-6% weight loss at 12 months; Tsai & Wadden, 2005), fewer than 20% of participants maintain a 10% weight loss after one year. The modern environment, filled with calorie-dense foods and sedentary habits, makes lasting weight control particularly challenging.

Cognitive behavioral treatments for weight loss focus on calorie tracking, portion control, and exercise planning, offering important tools for weight management. However, these methods often fall short because they don’t address the psychological and emotional drivers of eating behavior. Many individuals struggle with cravings, emotional eating, and a biological predisposition toward conserving energy. Without strategies to manage these challenges, long-term adherence to cognitive behavioral treatments recommendations can be difficult, and weight regain becomes common.

Effective Weight Loss: An Acceptance-Based Behavioral Approach introduces acceptance-based treatment (ABT), which builds on cognitive and behavioral principles, incorporating acceptance-based strategies to enhance long-term success. ABT emphasizes psychological flexibility—the ability to make choices aligned with long-term goals despite discomfort or cravings. Studies show that ABT leads to greater and more sustainable weight loss compared to CBT alone, especially for individuals prone to emotional eating or reactivity to food cues (Forman et al., 2013). By combining proven behavioral tools like self-monitoring with acceptance strategies, ABT helps individuals overcome both external and internal barriers to weight loss.

The program includes two books:

Effective Weight Control: An Acceptance-Based Behavioral Approach: Clinician Guide
Effective Weight Control: An Acceptance-Based Behavioral Approach: Workbook

Authored by leading psychologists including David Barlow, Michelle Craske and Edna Foa, Treatments That Work™ is a series of manuals and workbooks based on the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Each pair of books - therapist guide and workbook - contains step by step procedures for delivering evidence-based psychological interventions and will help you to provide the best possible care for your clients.

At Psychology Tools, we are proud to make many of the Treatments That Work™ titles available to our members. Each book is available to download chapter-by-chapter, and Psychology Tools members with a currently active subscription to our ‘Complete’ plan are licensed to share copies with their clients.

What's inside

A session-by-session guide detailing structured interventions across 25 weeks.
Client worksheets and exercises to reinforce weight control skills.
Meal planning tools to improve adherence to nutritional goals.
Behavioral strategies for managing cravings, emotional eating, and sedentary habits.
Long-term maintenance techniques to prevent weight regain.

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FAQs

This program integrates acceptance-based strategies to help clients persist with behavior changes even when experiencing cravings, discomfort, or low motivation.

The program consists of 25 sessions, delivered weekly at first and transitioning to biweekly and monthly maintenance sessions.

Yes, self-monitoring of calorie intake and weight is a core component, but it is complemented with mindful decision-making and values-based eating to promote sustainable change.

The program provides motivational strategies and psychological flexibility training to address resistance and increase engagement in long-term weight control behaviors.

How This Resource Improves Clinical Outcomes

By integrating acceptance-based strategies with behavioral weight control methods, this resource helps clients:

Increase awareness of eating habits and behavioral triggers.
Improve adherence to weight loss goals without relying solely on willpower.
Reduce emotional eating and impulsive food choices.
Sustain long-term lifestyle changes with structured relapse prevention strategies.
Develop a values-driven approach to health and well-being.

For clinicians, this resource provides:

A comprehensive guide for delivering structured weight management sessions.
Tools to increase client engagement and address barriers to adherence.
An evidence-based framework to improve long-term weight maintenance outcomes.

Clinicians Who Use This Resource Also Use

Effective Weight Loss: An Acceptance-Based Behavioral Approach: Workbook

References And Further Reading

Butryn, M. L., Webb, V., & Wadden, T. A. (2011). Behavioral treatment of obesity. The Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 34(4), 841.

Catenacci, V. A., Grunwald, G. K., Ingebrigtsen, J. P., Jakicic, J. M., McDermott, M. D., Phelan, S., ... Wyatt, H. R. (2011). Physical activity patterns using accelerometry in the National Weight Control Registry. Obesity, 19(6), 1163-1170.

Church, T. S., Thomas, D. M., Tudor-Locke, C., Katzmarzyk, P. T., Earnest, C. P., Rodarte, R. Q., ... Bouchard, C. (2011). Trends over 5 decades in U.S. occupation-related physical activity and their associations with obesity. PLoS ONE, 6(5), e19657.

Diliberti, N., Bordi, P. L., Conklin, M. T., Roe, L. S., & Rolls, B. J. (2004). Increased portion size leads to increased energy intake in a restaurant meal. Obesity Research, 12(3), 562-568.

Forman, E. M., Butryn, M. L., Hoffman, K. L., & Herbert, J. D. (2009). An open trial of an acceptance-based behavioral treatment for weight loss. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 16, 223-235.

Forman, E. M., Butryn, M. L., Juarascio, A. S., Bradley, L. E., Lowe, M. R., Herbert, J. D., & Shaw, J. A. (2013). The Mind your Health project: A randomized controlled trial of an innovative behavioral treatment for obesity. Obesity, 21(6), 1119-1126.

Forman, E. M., Butryn, M. L., Manasse, S. M., Wyckoff, E. P., & Goldstein, S. P. (2016, April). Acceptance-based behavioral weight loss treatment outperforms standard BT: Outcomes from the Mind Your Health study. Paper presented at the 37th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, Washington, D.C.

Forman, E. M., Hebert, J. D., Moitra, E., Yeomans, P. D., & Geller, P. A. (2007). A randomized controlled effectiveness trial of acceptance and commitment therapy and cognitive therapy for anxiety and depression. Behavior Modification, 31(6), 772-799.

Franz, M. J., VanWormer, J. J., Crain, A. L., Boucher, J. L., Histon, T., Caplan, W., ... Pronk, N. P. (2007). Weight-loss outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of weight-loss clinical trials with a minimum 1-year follow-up. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 107(10), 1755-1767.

French, S. A., Story, M., & Jeffery, R. W. (2001). Environmental influences on eating and physical activity. Annual Review of Public Health, 22, 309-335.

Goldstein, D. J. (1992). Beneficial health effects of modest weight loss. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders, 16(6), 397-415.

Gifford, E. V., Kohlenberg, B. S., Hayes, S. C., Antonuccio, D. O., Piasecki, M. M., Rasmussen-Hall, M. L., & Palm, K. M. (2004). Acceptance-based treatment for smoking cessation. Behavior Therapy, 35(4), 689-705.

Gregg, J. A., Callaghan, G. M., Hayes, S. C., & Glenn-Lawson, J. L. (2007). Improving diabetes self-management through acceptance, mindfulness, and values: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75(2), 336-343.

Hayes, S. C., Luoma, J. B., Bond, F. W., Masuda, A., & Lillis, J. (2006). Acceptance and commitment therapy: Model, processes, and outcomes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44(1), 1-25.

Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K. D., & Wilson, K. G. (1999). Acceptance and commitment therapy: An experiential approach to behavior change. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Niemeier, H. M., Leahey, T., Palm Reed, K., Brown, R. A., & Wing, R. R. (2012). An acceptance-based behavioral intervention for weight loss: A pilot study. Behavior Therapy, 43(2), 427-435.

Raynor, H. A., & Epstein, L. H. (2001). Dietary variety, energy regulation, and obesity. Psychological Bulletin, 127(3), 325-341.

Tsai, A. G., & Wadden, T. A. (2005). Systematic review: An evaluation of major commercial weight loss programs in the United States. Annals of Internal Medicine, 142(1), 56-66.

Veehof, M. M., Oskam, M. J., Schreurs, K. M., & Bohlmeijer, E. T. (2011). Acceptance-based interventions for the treatment of chronic pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Pain, 152(3), 533-542.

Wing, R. R., Lang, W., Wadden, T. A., Safford, M., Knowler, W. C., Bertoni, A. G., ... Wagenknecht, L. (2011). Benefits of modest weight loss in improving cardiovascular risk factors in overweight and obese individuals with Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care, 34(7), 1481-1486.

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