Lifestyle intervention
The intervention was led by the study team and cooperating health care providers (e. g. local practitioners) and has been described in detail previouslyAfter the coaching sessions, the intensive phase continued with of 14 consecutive seminars (twice per week for 2 h each) with a strong emphasis on the potential of behaviour change, perception of internal signals (e.g. appetite, hunger, frustration, stress or eating with pleasure) and community support as well as improvement of self-efficacy and relapse prevention. The four main topics of lifestyle change included a healthy, predominantly plant-based diet, stress regulation, physical activity, and social healthAfter the intensive phase of 8 weeks, a subsequent 22-months-alumni-phase with a less intensive intervention followed. Here, participants joined monthly meetings (2 h each) in which contents of the intensive phase were refreshed and group support was strengthened. Notably, results of this follow-up phase are not part of this sub-study.