Study: Emotional Eaters More Likely to Regain Weight
Something to keep in mind about emotional eating.
Just in time for the start of the holiday eating season – a new study finds that dieters who have the tendency to eat in response to external factors, such as at festive celebrations, have fewer problems with their weight loss than those who eat in response to emotions (internal factors). Led by researchers at The Miriam Hospital’s Weight Control & Diabetes Research Center, the study also found that emotional eating was associated with weight regain in successful losers.
“We found that the more people report eating in response to thoughts and feelings, such as, ‘when I feel lonely, I console myself by eating,’ the less weight they lost in a behavioral weight loss program. In addition, amongst successful weight losers, those who report emotional eating are more likely to regain,” says lead author Heather Niemeier, Ph.D., of The Miriam Hospital’s Weight Control & Diabetes Research Center and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
This is important, the authors note, because one of greatest challenges facing the field of obesity treatment remains the problem of weight regain following weight loss.
The article continues.