Restraint, weight loss, and variability of body weight.
Restrained and unrestrained subjects (n = 24) were weighed daily for a 6-week period and again 6 months later in order to determine whether dietary restraint or relative body weight is the better predictor of weight variability. Restraint was a significantly better predictor of naturally occurring weight fluctuations than was relative body weight. Furthermore, the 2 factors of the Restraint Scale, Concern for Dieting and Weight Fluctuations, were both significant predictors of weight variability. We propose that exaggerated weight fluctuations are not a natural concomitant of higher body weight but possibly the consequence of a cycle of dieting and overeating, which seems to preclude actual weight loss.
Heatherton
T F
TF
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.
Polivy
J
J
Herman
C P
CP
D001835:Body Weight; D004032:Diet; D004038:Diet, Reducing; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015431:Weight Loss