PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS IN INDIVIDUALS SUCCESSFUL AT LONG-TERM MAINTENANCE OF WEIGHT-LOSS

Set point theory suggests that successful maintenance of weight loss ( ''weight suppression'') may be associated with psychological distress. This study examined the association between psychological symptoms an d body weight suppression by using a registry of 629 women and 155 men who lost at least 13.6 kg (mean loss = 30 +/- 15 kg) and maintained t he loss for at least 1 year (mean duration = 5.5 +/- 6.8 years). Parti cipants completed measures of mood, distress, restraint, disinhibition , bingeing, and purging. Maintainers' levels of distress and depressio n were lower than those of psychiatric samples and resembled those of community-based samples. Binge-eating and purging rates were comparabl e to rates of community samples. Maintainers' levels of restraint and disinhibition were markedly different from those of eating-disordered samples, resembling levels found in patients recently treated for obes ity. There was no evidence that long-term suppression of body weight i s associated with psychological distress.