Attribution of weight regain to emotional reasons amongst European adults with overweight and obesity who regained weight following a weight loss attempt
Open accessAbstract
PURPOSE: Despite the wide availability of effective weight loss programmes, maintenance of weight loss remains challenging. Difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with binge eating and may represent one barrier to long-term intervention effectiveness in obesity. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between emotion regulation difficulties and the extent of weight regain in a sample of adults who had lost, and then regained, weight, and to examine the characteristics associated with emotional difficulties. METHODS: 2000 adults from three European countries (UK, Portugal, and Denmark) completed an online survey assessing self-reported weight loss and regain following their most recent weight loss attempt. They also completed a binge eating disorder screening questionnaire and, if they had regained weight, were asked if they attributed it to any emotional factors (a proxy for emotion regulation difficulties). Spearman's correlations and logistic regression were used to assess the associations between emotion regulation, weight regain, and strategy use. RESULTS: Emotion regulation difficulties were associated with greater weight regain (N = 1594 who lost and regained weight). Attribution to emotional reasons was associated with younger age, female gender, loss of control and binge eating, lower perceptions of success at maintenance, using more dietary and self-regulatory strategies in weight loss, and fewer dietary strategies in maintenance. CONCLUSIONS: Weight-related emotion regulation difficulties are common amongst regainers and are associated with regaining more weight. Affected individuals are already making frequent use of behavioural strategies during weight loss, but do not apply these consistently beyond active attempts. Simply encouraging the use of more numerous strategies, without concurrently teaching emotion regulation skills, may not be an effective means to improving weight outcomes in this group. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level V, descriptive (cross-sectional) study.
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The development of dysfunctional eating habits is one of the main factors linked to body weight, and it can be considered a barrier to weight loss.
“The development of dysfunctional eating habits is one of the main factors linked to body weight, and it can be considered a barrier to weight loss [14,15].”
From The actyourchange in teens study protocol: An acceptance and commitment therapy-based intervention for adolescents with obesity: A randomized controlled trial (2021) · cites this paper as [15]
The Introduction (page unavailable) reports that emotional eating is associated with higher BMI and less success in weight-loss attempts. The Discussion (page unavailable) also links binge eating and loss of control over eating with weight regain. These passages support the claim for specific eating behaviours, but do not establish that dysfunctional eating habits generally are one of the main factors linked to body weight. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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References 43 · Cited by 64
- Authors
- Sainsbury, K., Evans, E. H., Pedersen, S., Marques, M. M., Teixeira, P. J., Lähteenmäki, L., Stubbs, R. J., Heitmann, B. L., & Sniehotta, F. F.
- Affiliations
- Newcastle University (GB)
- Aarhus University (DK)
- University of Lisbon (PT)
- University of Leeds (GB)
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- United Kingdom Clinical Research Collaboration (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Sainsbury, Kirby
- ORCID
- Venue
- Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia Bulimia and Obesity
- Published
- 2018-02-16
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 351-361
- ISSN
- 1124-4909 (ISSN-L)
- 1590-1262
- PMC
- PMC6441408
- OpenAlex
- W2788650759
- Cited by
- 64
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 9.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia Bulimia and Obesity (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
- Durham Research Online (Durham University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Newcastle University ePrints (Newcastle Univesity) (cc-by)
- Funders
- Horizon 2020 (643309)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Keywords
- weight regain, emotion regulation, binge eating, obesity, overweight, weight loss maintenance, emotional attribution, binge eating disorder, self-regulation strategies, nutritional strategies, weight loss interventions
- MeSH terms
- Self-Control, Adult, Age Factors, Cross-Sectional Studies, Diet, Emotions, Europe, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Obesity, Sex Factors, Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Overweight
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