Understanding Emotional Eating

People normally eat more whenever celebrations arise, such as birthdays and the holidays. We tend to eat more whenever these kinds of events occur. In relation to this, a recent study made the discovery that people who eat due to external reasons like holidays and celebrations don't have as many problems when it comes to losing weight compared to people who eat because of their emotions. It was also discovered that emotional eating was linked with regaining weight for people who have lost weight. We hope to show you how to lose weight with {weight loss.

Studies on weight loss have shown that the more people say they eat in reply to their feelings and thoughts like when they are lonely, the less weight they tend to lose when they go on a behavioral weight loss program. The findings also showed that among those who have successfully lost their weight, those who report emotional eating, were more likely to regain. This was noted as significant since one of the greatest hurdles in overweight and obesity treatment is the issue of getting weight back after losing it. According to researchers, participants in behavioral weight loss programs lose an average of ten percent of their body weight, and these losses are associated with significant health benefits. The sad thing is, within 3-5 years, most of these people go back to their baseline weight.

In one research, an analysis was made on a participant's answers to the eating inventory, a questionnaire widely used by overweight and obesity research. The Eating Inventory is used as a tool to analyze three parts of an individual's eating behaviors such as hunger, eating inhibition, and cognitive restraint. For more specific results, the researchers focused mainly on the eating inhibition part of the Eating Inventory. Even though past studies have indicated that eating inhibition in general makes accurate predictions on weight loss, the scale itself has several factors that can forecast results separately. According to researchers, the eating inhibition scale evaluates eating impulsively in response to cues from a cognitive, emotional, or social perspective. Their aim was to study and isolate the reasons that comprise the eating inhibition scale, and then to know if these reasons have a specific connection to weight loss and regain. You might also want to consider does walking help you lose weight.

Those part of the study were separated into two groups. The first group was made up of 286 overweight men and women who were currently part of a behavioral weight loss program. The second group on the other hand included 3,345 members of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), an ongoing study of adults who have lost at least thirty pounds and kept it off for at least one year. Researchers have stated that through studies made on the two groups, they were able to analyze the effects of eating inhibition on the patients attempting weight loss and those who were attempting to maintain the weight they've lost. Upon further examination, the researchers found that the components within the eating inhibition scale was to be grouped in two distinct areas: external and internal eating inhibition. External eating inhibition, as the word implies, is for experiences outside the person, while internal describes eating in response to feelings and thoughts, which includes eating emotionally. Results showed that in both groups, internal eating inhibition was a significant predictor of weight over time. For people who are participating in a weight loss program, the higher their level of internal eating inhibition, the less weight they lose over time.

Their research has suggested that attention should be given to eating that is triggered by thoughts and feelings, since they clearly play a significant role in weight loss. Internal eating inhibition, however, predicted weight change over time above and beyond other psychological issues including depression, binge eating, and perceived stress. By additional changing of treatments to address these triggers of unhealthy eating at the same time helping patients learn different strategies could help improve their ability to maintain their weight even with their cognitive and affective difficulties.