Background & Objectives: In recent decades, obesity and overweight have been identified as serious threats worldwide. Obesity is associated with the spread of chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Understanding the mechanisms associated with obesity is of great importance; a newly discovered hormone in this regard is leptin which its’ role in obesity has been addressed in recent years. Obesity could be considered as the primary cause of type 2 diabetes and subsequent insulin resistance. Overweight and obesity are directly and effectively related to lifestyle. Therefore, psychological and cognitive components play a direct and significant role in these conditions. The present study aimed to determine the effects of mindfulness-based metacognitive therapy on weight-related lifestyle, hemoglobin A1C, and leptin in overweight women.
Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest and a control group design. The statistical population of the study included all overweight women with 25
2 referring to a nutrition clinic in Mashhad City, Iran, in 2018. Among them, 30 individuals were randomly selected using a purposive sampling method; then, they were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The two groups then completed the Weight Efficacy Lifestyle Questionnaire (Clark et al., 1991) and performed the leptin and hemoglobin A1C level measurement experiments. Next, mindfulness-based metacognition therapy was performed in 8 weekly sessions of 90 minutes for two months based on the Wells (2005) training package; however, the control group received no treatment. The obtained data were analyzed in SPSS using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA)
.
Results: The current research findings indicated that mindfulness-based metacognitive therapy was significantly effective in lifestyle variables affecting weight (negative emotion, social pressure, availability, physical discomfort & positive activity), hemoglobin A1C, and leptin (
p<0.001)
.
Conclusion: Based on the present study results, mindfulness-based metacognitive therapy could be used to improve the lifestyle affecting weight, hemoglobin A1C, and leptin in overweight women
.
