Seventeen trainable mentally retarded youths were assigned to either a behavior therapy (N = 6), an obese wait-list control group (N = 5) or a normal weight control group (N = 6). The behavior therapy subjects lost significantly more weight than the two control groups who gained weight. The behavior therapy subjects achieved significant reductions in tricep skin-fold thickness, abdominal circumferences, and diastolic blood pressure measures by the end of the 21·week treatment program. The advantages of using multiple dependent measures is discussed.