Obesity, weight loss, and dietary restraint

The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire was administered to 88 men and women following behavioral treatment for obesity and to a comparison group of 16 obese and 60 normal weight persons. Treated subjects showed higher scores on Factor I (cognitive restraint of eating) of the Questionnaire than did untreated obese and normal weight subjects. Furthermore, the correlation between Factor I scores and weight loss increased over time in treatment. Factor II (disinhibition) and Factor III (hunger) scores were significantly higher in obese groups than in the normal weight group but were not correlated with weight change. These findings suggest that cognitive control of eating discriminates obese from nonobese persons and increases during behavioral treatment for obesity.