DClinPsy Portfolio Volume 1 of 3 - University of Hertfordshire ...

For example, the use of appetite suppressants, laxatives, vomiting and binge eating, have
been found to predict a threefold increase in the risk of obesity in adolescent girls (Stice,
Cameron, Killen, Hayward and Taylor, 1999). Stice, Presnell, Shaw and Rohde (2005),
also found that participants with elevated dietary restraint scores showed an increased
risk for obesity onset.
Field, Austin, Taylor, Malspels, Rosner, Rocreet, Gillman and Colditz (2003), also
concluded that for many, dieting to control weight can instead lead to weight gain and
identified mechanisms through which this occurs. Their suggestions included that dieting
may result in an increase in metabolic efficiency; thus, dieters over time may require
fewer calories to maintain weight and lead them to gain weight when they consumed a
diet that previously had been effective for maintaining their weight. Alternatively, weight
gain may result from restrictive dieting as this is rarely maintained for an extended period
of time. Dieting, therefore, may lead to a cycle of restrictive eating, followed by bouts of
overeating or binge eating. Therefore, it would be the repeated cycles of overeating
between the restrictive diets that would be responsible for weight gain (Stice, 1996).
Blundell (1995) argued that “dieting results in an erratic delivery of nutrients with
aberrant triggering of physiological responses, which leads to a de-synchronisation
between behavior and physiology” (Stice, 1999, p972). This dys-regulation of the normal
appetite system is thought to promote weight gain because biological regulatory
processes oppose under-eating but not overeating. Also, an overeating tendency may
increase the likelihood that a person will engage in weight-control strategies and may
ultimately result in obesity onset despite the weight-control efforts. This interpretation
would suggest that self-reported weight control behaviors are simply a proxy measure of
a tendency toward over consumption.
The effects of becoming overweight and obese in adolescents or adulthood have much
researched physiological, psychological and social implications.
89