10.1016/j.appet.2019.04.019
https://zenodo.org/records/2784000
oai:zenodo.org:2784000
Reichenberger, Julia
Julia
Reichenberger
0000-0003-4982-410X
Paris-Lodron University of Salzburg, Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience
Smyth, Joshua M.
Joshua M.
Smyth
0000-0002-0904-5390
Departments of Biobehavioral Health and Medicine, The Pennsylvania State University
Kuppens, Peter
Peter
Kuppens
0000-0002-2363-2356
KU Leuven, Belgium
Blechert, Jens
Jens
Blechert
0000-0002-3820-109X
Paris-Lodron University of Salzburg, Department of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience
"I will fast … tomorrow": Intentions to restrict eating and actual restriction in daily life and their person-level predictors
Zenodo
2019
diet
food intake
dietary restraint
eating styles
food craving
intention-behavior gap
2019-05-13
https://zenodo.org/communities/eu
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Objective. Dietary restraint is a common, yet controversial practice to tackle overweight. Yet,
despite good intentions to reduce food intake, most restraint-based diets fail to produce long term
weight loss. A better understanding of the naturalistic course of daily dieting intentions and their
effectiveness in guiding subsequent eating behavior are therefore needed.
Method. In two studies, participants (n=49 and n=59) reported both their state intention to restrict
eating on the next day, as well as their actual restriction on that day via smartphone-based
evening reports of 12 and 10 days, respectively. Intention-behavior gap scores were calculated as
differences between intention at t1 (e.g. evening intention Monday for restriction Tuesday) and
restriction at t2 (evening report of actual restraint on Tuesday). Restriction-related trait
questionnaires served as predictors of general intention or restriction level, whereas several traitlevel
disinhibiting eating style questionnaires served as predictors for intention-behavior gaps
(difference scores).
Results. Daily intentions to restrict were rated higher than the daily actual restrictive behavior.
Participants with higher scores on restriction-related questionnaires (restrained eating, dieting,
reversed intuitive eating) showed higher levels of daily state intention and restriction. Larger state
intention-behavior gaps, by contrast, were seen in participants scoring high on trait-level
disinhibiting eating styles (emotional eating, stress eating and food craving).
Discussion. The results point to potential risk factors of diet failure in everyday life: emotional,
stress eating, and food craving are disinhibiting traits that seem to increase intention-behavior
gaps. These findings can inform individualized weight-loss interventions: individuals with
disinhibiting traits might need additional guidance to avoid potentially frustrating diet failures.
European Commission
10.13039/501100000780
639445
Transdiagnostic views on eating disorders and obesity and new approaches for treatment