OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a weight maintenance program conducted over the internet. DESIGN: Longitudinal, clinical behavioral weight loss trial with 6-month in-person behavioral obesity treatment followed by a 12-month maintenance program conducted both in-person (frequent in-person support; F-IPS, minimal in-person support; M-IPS) and over the internet (internet support; IS). SUBJECTS: A total of 122 healthy, overweight adults (age 48.4 +/- 9.6, BMI 32.2 +/- 4.5 kg/m2, 18 male). MEASUREMENTS: Body weight, dietary intake, energy expended in physical activity, attendance, self-monitoring, comfort with technology. RESULTS: Results (n = 101) showed that weight loss did not differ by condition during treatment (8.0 +/- 5 versus 11 +/- 6.5 versus 9.8 +/- 5.9 kg, p = 0.27 for IS, M-IPS and F-IPS, respectively). The IS condition gained significantly more weight than the F-IPS group during the first 6 months of weight maintenance (+2.2 +/- 3.8 versus 0 +/- 4 kg, p < 0.05) and sustained a significantly smaller weight loss than both in-person support groups at the 1 y follow-up (-5.7 +/- 5.9 versus -10.4 +/- 9.3 versus -10.4 +/- 6.3 kg, p < 0.05 for IS, M-IPS and F-IPS, respectively). Attendance at maintenance meetings was greater for the F-IPS than the IS condition over the 1 y maintenance program (54 versus 39%, p = 0.04). Acceptability of assigned condition was higher for subjects in the F-IPS than IS condition. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that internet support does not appear to be as effective as minimal or frequent intensive in-person therapist support for facilitating the long-term maintenance of weight loss.

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