Obesity 2018: Effectiveness of mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and hypocaloric diet on weight loss, improvement of hypertension and attentional bias to eating- Aghamohammadi Vahideh- Ahvaz Jundishapur- University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Introduction: Prevalence of obesity and overweight are increasing dramatically in the entire world. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) on weight loss and decrease of blood pressure and attentional bias to eating cues in overweight women. Method: This study was accomplished by pre and post-test, as well as follow-up with a control group. Among women referred to nutrition and diet therapy clinic, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical sciences, 45 participants were chosen and randomly divided into three groups. Each group consisted of 15 participants. The first experimental group was subjected to energy-restricted diet and MBCT in eight sessions. The second experimental group subjected to an energy-restricted diet alone. The third group (waiting list) had no intervention and used as control group. Body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and attentional bias to eating cues were evaluated, before, at the end and four weeks after the interventions. Analysis of covariance and repeated measures covariance were used to analyze test data. Results: Our findings revealed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy along with diet therapy is more effective than diet therapy alone in weight loss, decrease body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and attentional bias to eating cues in overweight women (P≤0.01). The results of present study in follow- up showed that MBCT. along with diet therapy are significantly more effective on the weight loss, decrease in BMI, systolic blood pressure and attentional bias to eating cues than diet therapy alone (P≤0.01). However, MBCT had no significant effect on decrease of diastolic blood pressure of the participants in follow-up. Conclusion: This study shows that MBCT along with conventional diet therapy is more effective in weight loss, decrease in BMI, blood pressure and attentional bias to eating cues than diet therapy alone. areas I learned I need to improve on from my 1st conference experience. I did not realize how packed the conference schedule was. Some days, we were in the conference center at 10a.m. and left approx. at 7:30 p.m I am not sure about timing . Sure, there are breaks for lunch and dinner, but it’s really hard when you’re an overachiever to feel like you can skip a session if you need a rest. I felt like I needed to attend every session and topics because I paid to be there and it would be a waste of time and money to not get the most out of the experience. But…that’s pretty taxing, especially when you’re an introvert who melts a little just from being around people. At future conferences, I’m going to be a little more strategic about planning breaks ,lunch ,snack throughout the day, even if it means skipping a session to sit alone in a corner somewhere and refresh. And in future I will come with full planning and strategic. In future when ever I Atten any conferences I come two days before conferences because that was my first conferences so I feel some messy timing and I was feeled so tired because conference morning I reached hotel morning 7a.m and I don’t have time to rest my self I just fresh up and ready for conference then I go for conference so I feel more tired . . I attended my first professional conference, the conference based on obesity and Eating Disorders. the conferences I was attending last two years, I was giddy at the prospect of attending the conference and interacting with other people . Even though I’m not in academics or pursuing a master’s degree, I wanted to experience a conference and be in an environment where books and writing were the focus all day and night. I attended the convention with Hannah, my fellow English major and Hannah officer friend from college, and we had a blast. Spending the days listening to fellow book lovers talk about themes in classic literature and exploring Cincinnati’s bookstores lived up to my expectations. But as with anything in life, I realized after further reflection that I have a lot to learn about the art of conference attending.