HealthyWeightHub.fi: Web-based Management of Obesity in a Real-life Clinical Setting

Overview

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a web-based obesity management program HealthyWeightCoaching (HWC), within a HealthyWeightHub.fi (HWH) platform. HWC is a 12-month intervention within a real-life clinical setting. The program includes a combination of nutrition, physical activity, and cognitive behavioral approaches, with a strong basis in acceptance and commitment therapy. In addition to the automated, interactive program, HWC includes a personal coach allocated to each patient. The patients are enrolled through referrals from primary care, occupational health, other hospitals, or from private health care units nationwide in Finland.

Detailed description

Obesity is one of the major public health problems globally and it increases the risk of many obesity-associated diseases. Treatment of obesity requires long-term interventions, but nevertheless, it is challenging to provide long-term treatment when resources in real-life health care systems are limited. New cost-effective and accessible intervention methods are needed.

The modern treatment of obesity is based on behavioral changes that modify one´s daily lifestyle, which, according to recent research, are effective especially in the prevention of diabetes. However, little is known about the utilization and effectiveness of online programs using novel interactive technologies.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a real-life web-based obesity management program (HealthyWeightCoaching, HWC) on weight loss, health, quality of life, and factors predicting long term success in treating overweight adult patients.

Healthy Weight Coaching is a novel 12-month intervention within a real-life clinical setting. The program includes a combination of nutrition, physical activity, and cognitive behavioral approaches, with a strong basis in acceptance and commitment therapy. The program is structured around weekly exercise modules.

In addition to the automated, interactive program, HWC includes a personal coach allocated to each patient. The patients are enrolled through referrals from primary care, occupational health, other hospitals, or from private health care units nationwide in Finland. The program is free for the patient to use.

The 12-month intervention is followed by a 5-year monitoring period. Questionnaires on health, quality of life, and lifestyle are collected at 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12-month time points. Body weight is collected by weekly logs. The recruitment is ongoing as the program is currently used in clinical practice.

Interventions

• Behavioral Healthy Weight Coaching
  Healthy Weight Coaching is a 52 week long web-based weight loss program consisting of weekly modules, exercises, peer support, and one-on-one coaching. It encompasses themes such as diet, physical activity, coping with stress, sleep, and general health.

Primary outcome measures

• % weight loss [Time frame: baseline to 12 months]

Secondary outcome measures (5)

• Categorical weight loss [Time frame: baseline to 12 months]
• Sleep [Time frame: baseline to 12 months]
• Health-Related Quality of Life [Time frame: baseline to 12 months]
• Psychological Flexibility [Time frame: baseline to 12 months]
• Eating behaviour [Time frame: baseline to 12 months]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• age over 18 years
• body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg/ m²
• the possibility to use a computer and /or a smartphone with access to the internet
• willingness to participate in the digital treatment program

Exclusion criteria

• diagnosed severe illness requiring assessment from the specialty care obesity center
• pregnancy or breastfeeding

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: No

Study design

Allocation

N/A

Model

Single group

Masking

Open label

Primary purpose

Treatment

Study locations

Finland · 1 center

• University of Helsinki — Helsinki

Publications

• Wu ER, Joki A, Venalainen MS, Suojanen LU, Pietilainen KH, Ahola AJ. Alcohol consumption, smoking, and weight loss outcomes: findings from a 12-month digital lifestyle intervention. Eur J Public Health. 2026 Apr 11;36(3):ckag072. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckag072. PMID 42154894
• Mannisto SA, Joki A, Suojanen LU, Venalainen MS, Pietilainen KH, Ahola AJ. Does loneliness impact intentional weight loss? The role of obesity-related disadvantages and comorbidities. Prev Med. 2026 Jan;202:108430. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2025.108430. Epub 2025 Oct 11. PMID 41082943
• Ahola AJ, Suojanen LU, Joki A, Pietilainen KH. Loneliness and its cross-sectional associations with health, health behaviours, and perceptions in Finnish patients with overweight or obesity taking part in the Healthy Weight Coaching. Prev Med. 2024 Aug;185:108032. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2024.108032. Epub 2024 Jun 6. PMID 38851400
• Biehl A, Venalainen MS, Suojanen LU, Kupila S, Ahola AJ, Pietilainen KH, Elo LL. Development and validation of a weight-loss predictor to assist weight loss management. Sci Rep. 2023 Nov 24;13(1):20661. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-47930-y. PMID 38001145
• Suojanen LU, Ahola AJ, Kupila S, Korpela R, Pietilainen KH. Effectiveness of a web-based real-life weight management program: Study design, methods, and participants' baseline characteristics. Contemp Clin Trials Commun. 2020 Aug 13;19:100638. doi: 10.1016/j.conctc.2020.100638. eCollection 2020 Sep. PMID 32885090

Identifiers

NCT: NCT04019249 · HealthyWeightHub.fi

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗