Evaluating "Health at Every Size"(HAES) as an Alternative Obesity Treatment Model

Increasingly more individuals are trying to lose weight. Indeed, many women, regardless of their size, experience a life-long battle and preoccupation with their weight. Despite the attention to weight and the increase in diet behavior, the incidence of obesity continues to rise. There is little data to show improved long term success for the majority of participants who engage in weight loss behaviors. The specific aim is to improve the psychological and metabolic health of obese women with a history of chronic dieting through encouraging "Health at Every Size" (HAES). This treatment model emphasizes "intutitive eating," i.e., internal regulation of eating (responding to cues of hunger, appetite and satiety). The HAES model is being compared to the current standard of care in obesity treatment, energy restriction dieting, which encourages cognitive control of eating and weight reduction.

Caucasian; female; age 30-45 years; Body Mass Index (BMI)>30 m/kg2; non-smoker; not pregnant or lactating; Restraint Scale (Herman and Polivy, 1988) score >15, indicating a history of chronic dieting; no recent myocardial infarction; no active neoplasms, Type 1 diabetes or insulin-dependent Type 2 diabetes, nor history of cerebrovascular or renal disease.

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