Abstract
BackgroundResearch suggests that the interaction between biological susceptibility and environmental risk is complex and that further study of behavioral typologies related to obesity and associated behaviors is important to further elucidate the nature of obesity risk and how to approach it for intervention. The current investigation aims to identify phenotypical lifestyle patterns that might begin to unify our understanding of obesity and obesity related behaviors.MethodsIndividuals who had recently lost substantial weight of their own initiative completed measures of intentional weight control behaviors and lifestyle behaviors associated with eating. These behaviors were factor analyzed and the resulting factors were examined in relation to BMI, recent weight loss, diet, and physical activity.ResultsFour meaningful lifestyle and weight control behavioral factors were identified— regularity of meals, TV related viewing and eating, intentional strategies for weight control, and eating away from home. Greater meal regularity was associated with greater recent weight loss and greater fruit and vegetable intake. Greater TV related viewing and eating was associated with greater BMI and greater fat and sugar intake. More eating away from home was related to greater fat and sugar intake, lower fruit and vegetable intake, and less physical activity. Greater use of weight control strategies was most consistently related to better weight, diet, and physical activity outcomes.ConclusionsCompared to the individual behavior variables, the identified lifestyle patterns appeared to be more reliably related to diet, physical activity, and weight (both BMI and recent weight loss). These findings add to the growing body of literature identifying behavioral patterns related to obesity and the overall weight control strategy of eating less and exercising more. In future research it will be important to replicate these behavioral factors (over time and in other samples) and to examine how changes in these factors relate to weight loss and weight maintenance over time.
Highlights
Research suggests that the interaction between biological susceptibility and environmental risk is complex and that further study of behavioral typologies related to obesity and associated behaviors is important to further elucidate the nature of obesity risk and how to approach it for intervention
Building on prior research suggesting that health behaviors tend to be interrelated [20,21,22,23,24], the current paper presents an analysis of the relationships among a diverse array of variables related to obesity and associated behaviors with the aim of beginning to identify phenotypical lifestyle patterns that might unify our understanding of obesity, diet, and physical activity
The present analysis examines the outcome variables of weight, defined by BMI at study entry, the amount of weight lost in the recent weight loss episode that qualified participants for study eligibility, and behaviors most proximal to weight regulation, namely diet and physical activity
Summary
Research suggests that the interaction between biological susceptibility and environmental risk is complex and that further study of behavioral typologies related to obesity and associated behaviors is important to further elucidate the nature of obesity risk and how to approach it for intervention. It is becoming clear that the interaction between biological susceptibility and environmental risk is not a simple one and that further study of behavioral typologies of phenotypes predicting obesity risk may be important to further elucidate the nature of risk and how to approach it for intervention [6,7,8]. Among the variables most consistently associated with obesity risk are lifestyle issues like where and what people eat (e.g., fast food, sugarsweetened beverages, watching TV), when they eat (e.g., meal skipping), and intentional weight management practices (e.g., self-weighing and meal planning) [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]
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