Differential effects of self-weighing in restrained and unrestrained eaters

Identifying factors associated with obesity traits in undergraduate students: a scoping review

OBJECTIVES

This scoping review identifies factors associated with obesity traits including body mass index, weight, and body fat percentage in undergraduate students.

METHODS

We searched CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO for original studies of undergraduate students where an obesity trait was associated with a risk factor.

RESULTS

Two-hundred sixty-eight articles were included comprising of 251 studies: 186 cross-sectional, 50 cohort, 11 interventional, and 4 qualitative. We extracted data on risk/protective factors, obesity traits, and the direction of effect between them. We identified a variety of factors including age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religion, diet, eating habits, physical activity, sedentary activity, sleep, stress, university campus life, alcohol use, smoking, psychiatric disorders, body image, eating attitude, eating regulation, personality, sociocultural influences, and genetics. The majority of associations were cross-sectional. For longitudinal findings, usually only one study investigated each trait.

CONCLUSIONS

This review identifies a need for higher quality evidence to support results from cross-sectional studies and replication of findings of longitudinal studies. This review identifies gaps in the literature, generates hypotheses, guides researchers to plan future studies, and helps decision-makers design obesity-prevention programs in universities.

What is the psychological impact of self-weighing? A meta-analysis

Many people self-weigh and many interventions addressing weight-related problems such as obesity promote self-weighing. However, while self-weighing has been associated with weight loss, there is mixed evidence regarding the psychological impact of this behaviour. The present review aimed to quantify the relationship between self-weighing and: (i) affect (e.g., anxiety, depression); (ii) psychological functioning (e.g., self-esteem); (iii) body-related attitudes and (iv) disordered eating. A computerized search of scientific databases in September 2014 and subsequent ancestry and citation searches identified 29 independent tests of the relationship between self-weighing on psychological outcomes. Meta-analysis was used to quantify the size of the association across the tests. Results indicated that there was no association between self-weighing and affect, body-related attitudes or disordered eating. There was, however, a small-sized negative association between self-weighing and psychological functioning. The age of participants, obesity status, the extent of weight loss, duration of self-weighing and study design (RCT versus correlational) were found to influence at least some of the psychological outcomes of self-weighing. The findings suggest that, for the most part, self-weighing is not associated with adverse psychological outcomes. However, in some cases the association between self-weighing and psychological outcomes may be more negative than in others.

Self-Weighing Throughout Adolescence and Young Adulthood: Implications for Well-Being

OBJECTIVE

To describe the prevalence of self-weighing in the transition period from adolescence to young adulthood and examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between self-weighing and weight status, psychological, and behavioral outcomes.

DESIGN

Project Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults, a longitudinal cohort study that assessed variables 3 times over 10 years.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 1,868 adolescents and young adults.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Weight, body mass index, weight disparity, body satisfaction, weight concern, self-esteem, depression, and unhealthy weight control behaviors.

ANALYSIS

Cross-sectional and longitudinal.

RESULTS

Significant positive correlations were found at each time point between self-weighing and weight concern for both genders. Self-weighing was significantly inversely related to self-esteem at each time point in female participants. Increases in endorsement of self-weighing were significantly related to decreases in body satisfaction and self-esteem and increases in weight concern and depression in female participants and to increases in weight concern in male participants.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Findings suggest that self-weighing may not be an innocuous behavior for young people, particularly women. Interventions should assess potential harmful consequences of self-weighing in addition to any potential benefits. It may be appropriate for clinicians to ask about self-weighing, and if it is frequent, to explore motivations, perceived benefits, and potential adverse correlates or consequences.

Frequent Self-Weighing with Electronic Graphic Feedback to Prevent Age-Related Weight Gain in Young Adults

OBJECTIVE

An intervention using Wi-Fi scales and graphic e-mail feedback, the caloric titration method (CTM), to reduce age-related weight gain over 1 year among college students was evaluated.

METHODS

First-year college students (n = 167) were randomized to CTM or control (C) groups and provided Wi-Fi scales. The CTM group was instructed to weigh daily, view a weight graph e-mailed to them after weighing, and try to maintain their weight. The C group could weigh at any time but did not receive feedback. At 6 months and 1 year, the C group provided weights. For intention to treat analysis, an adjusted mixed model was used to analyze the effect of the intervention.

RESULTS

Baseline body mass index was 22.9 ± 3.0 kg/m(2) . Ninety-five percent of the CTM participants weighed ≥ 3 times/week, compared to 15% in the C group (P < 0.001). After 1 year, the C group had gained 1.1 ± .4 kg whereas the CTM group lost 0.5 ± 3.7 kg (F = 3.39, P = 0.035). The difference in weight change between the two groups at 1 year was significant (P = 0.004). Retention was 81%.

CONCLUSIONS

CTM intervention was effective in preventing age-related weight gain in young adults over 1 year and thus offers promise to reduce overweight and obesity.

Does measuring body weight impact subsequent response to eating behavior questions?

OBJECTIVES

If being weighed impacts perceptions of eating behavior, it is important that the order of questionnaires and weighing be considered in research and practice. A quasi-experimental study was performed to examine whether being weighed immediately prior to completing a questionnaire affects responses to eating behavior questions. It was hypothesized that being weighed would serve as a priming stimulus and increase measures of dietary restraint, disinhibition, and hunger.

METHODS

Trained researchers collected a sample of volunteers (n = 355) in 8 locations in the United States on two Saturdays in the summer of 2011. Half of the participants were weighed immediately prior to completing the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ), with the remaining half weighed immediately after TFEQ completion.

RESULTS

A priori hypotheses were not supported despite replicating known relationships between weight, dietary restraint and disinhibition. Results indicated that being weighed first produced a difference in differences on disinhibition scores between low restraint score (95% CI = 4.65-6.02) and high restraint score (95% CI = 6.11-7.57) compared to being weighed after questionnaire completion (p = 0.003). However, this relationship was not significant when modeling restraint as a continuous variable, questioning the use of dichotomization.

CONCLUSIONS

Being weighed is unlikely to be a strong enough prime to significantly change scores on eating behavior questionnaires for everyone, but may allow differences in restraint status to become more evident. Researchers assessing dietary restraint should be wary of the possibility of producing different results when treating restraint as continuous or dichotomous, which could lead to different interpretations.

Self-Weighing: Helpful or Harmful for Psychological Well-Being? A Review of the Literature

Conflicting views as to the helpfulness or harmfulness of self-weighing for the control of body weight have been presented in the fields of obesity and eating disorders. Because self-weighing is increasingly being considered as an intervention to promote weight loss or prevent weight gain, it is timely to consider unintended psychological outcomes and behavioral correlates of this behavior. Twenty articles from the published literature examining self-weighing and psychological outcomes or weight control behaviors were reviewed. In evaluating self-weighing and affect (ten studies), self-esteem (four studies) and body evaluation (ten studies), and eating behaviors/cognitions (13 studies), in total, most studies found a negative relationship between self-weighing and outcomes (affect: 4/10, self-esteem: 3/4, body evaluation: 4/10, eating behaviors/cognitions: 6/13). Themes that emerged included relationships between self-weighing and negative outcomes for women and younger individuals, and lack of a relationship or positive outcomes for overweight, treatment seeking individuals. Though self-weighing has shown promise in aiding weight control, the degree to which weight loss, and not self-weighing, affects psychological outcomes is not clear. Further assessment of psychological outcomes in self-weighing research may be warranted, as this review suggests the potential for adverse effects of self-weighing in some individuals.

Weighing the Evidence of Common Beliefs in Obesity Research

Obesity is a topic on which many views are strongly held in the absence of scientific evidence to support those views, and some views are strongly held despite evidence to contradict those views. We refer to the former as "presumptions" and the latter as "myths." Here, we present nine myths and 10 presumptions surrounding the effects of rapid weight loss; setting realistic goals in weight loss therapy; stage of change or readiness to lose weight; physical education classes; breastfeeding; daily self-weighing; genetic contribution to obesity; the "Freshman 15"; food deserts; regularly eating (versus skipping) breakfast; eating close to bedtime; eating more fruits and vegetables; weight cycling (i.e., yo-yo dieting); snacking; built environment; reducing screen time in childhood obesity; portion size; participation in family mealtime; and drinking water as a means of weight loss. For each of these, we describe the belief and present evidence that the belief is widely held or stated, reasons to support the conjecture that the belief might be true, evidence to directly support or refute the belief, and findings from randomized controlled trials, if available. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these determinations, conjecture on why so many myths and presumptions exist, and suggestions for limiting the spread of these and other unsubstantiated beliefs about the obesity domain.

A randomised controlled trial of the effectiveness of self-weighing as a weight loss intervention

BACKGROUND

There is a need to find simple cost effective weight loss interventions that can be used in primary care. There is evidence that self-monitoring is an effective intervention for problem drinking and self-weighing might be an effective intervention for weight loss.

PURPOSE

To examine the efficacy of daily self-weighing as an intervention for weight loss.

METHODS

A randomised controlled trial of 183 obese adults, follow-up three months. The intervention group were given a set of weighing scales and instructed to weigh themselves daily and record their weight. Both groups received two weight loss consultations which were known to be ineffective.

RESULTS

92 participants were randomised to the intervention group and 91 to the control group. The intervention group lost 0.5 kg (95% CI 0.3 to 1.3 kg) more than the control group, but this was not significant. There was no evidence that self-weighing frequency was associated with more weight loss.

CONCLUSIONS

As an intervention for weight loss, instruction to weigh daily is ineffective. Unlike other studies, there was no evidence that greater frequency of self-weighing is associated with greater weight loss.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ISRCTN05815264.

Daily Self-Weighing to Control Body Weight in Adults: A Critical Review of the Literature

The objective of this study is to review the history of daily self-weighing for weight control, discuss the possibility that self-weighing may cause adverse psychological symptoms, and propose mechanisms that explain how self-weighing facilitates weight control. A systematic forward (citation) tracking approach has been employed in this study. In the early literature, experimental tests did not demonstrate a benefit of adding daily self-weighing to traditional behavioral modification for weight loss. More recent studies have shown that daily self-weighing combined with personalized electronic feedback can produce and sustain weight loss with and without a traditional weight loss program. Daily self-weighing appears to be effective in preventing age-related weight gain. Apart from these experimental findings, there is considerable agreement that the frequency of self-weighing correlates with success in losing weight and sustaining the weight loss. The early literature suggested frequent self-weighing may be associated with negative psychological effects. However, more recent experimental trials do not substantiate such a causal relationship. In conclusion, daily self-weighing may be a useful strategy for certain adults to prevent weight gain, lose weight, or prevent weight regain after loss. More research is needed to better understand the role of different types of feedback, who benefits most from self-weighing, and at what frequency.

To weigh or not to weigh: the relationship between self-weighing behavior and body image among adults

Given the high prevalence of overweight and obesity in the U.S., identifying behaviors that aid or hinder weight control efforts continues to be a research priority. Body weight monitoring is a technique used in many popular weight management programs. However, how weight monitoring-particularly self-weighing behavior-relates to psychological constructs like body image is poorly understood. Participants included 268 undergraduates (190 women, 78 men) at a midwestern university who completed questionnaires about self-weighing behavior and body image (multidimensional body-self relations questionnaire; eating disorder examination-questionnaire: weight and shape concern subscales). Among women, more frequent self-weighing was associated with greater appearance orientation, overweight preoccupation, and shape concern. Among men, more frequent self-weighing was associated with greater body areas satisfaction, health and fitness orientation, and positive health evaluation. Results suggest that self-weighing is a fairly common behavior, but its relationship with body image is complex and gender-specific.