Weight loss and maintenance continues to be problematic for individuals who are overweight or obese. State-of-the-art treatment is delivered face-to-face between care providers and small groups of participants and this is time consuming, expensive, and presents numerous barriers to the participant such as travel, conflict with work and home, need for child care, loss of anonymity, and others as well as the care provider such as office space, meeting rooms, inventory, etc. A pilot study of a phone based delivery system versus a traditional clinic has been completed with no difference in weight loss. The phone approach may eliminate many of the barriers of a traditional clinic by substituting conference calls for clinics and by delivering weight loss materials and products directly to the participant. In this fashion, the care provider and participants can reside in any location and receive the same information by conference phone call as that provided by clinic, and receive educational materials, weight management products, etc. by air or ground transportation.