THE NUTRITIONAL APPROACH IN A WEIGHT LOSS GROUP IN PRIMARY CARE.

Obesity is a chronic disease and difficult to treat. The group activity favors the formation of bond, and helps in motivating and discussion of relevant issues for nutritional education and weight loss. This is an account of the experiment conducted with 20 obese patients for promoting weight loss through nutritional education and lifestyle change, from group sessions. The selected patients had participated in consults with nutritionist, and signed a consent form and it established a limit of 2 faults. The study period was 17 weeks, with weekly meetings. From 15 to 15 days the anthropometric measurements of participants were held. The multidisciplinary team participated in the meetings that had as themes: healthy eating, anxiety, culinary workshops, fiber and water, labels of processed food packaging, listening wheels and physical activity. During the intervention it was observed that participants in the group had greater adherence to nutritional education, with reports of increased consumption of fruits, vegetables, water, fractionation meals and control the intake. Eight patients were considered for the final sample because they were inside the absence limit allowed. The weight loss observed in the sum of the participants was 30,65 kg compared to the initial weight; and reduction of 11.97 kg / m2 initial BMI. In conclusion, the support group can be an important strategy in the actions of obesity treatment, contributing to weight loss and modification of lifestyle and eating habits.