Application of motivation and emotion principles in weight loss programs to lose weight effectively.

Abstract Application of principles of motivation and emotion has significant influence on the effectiveness of weight loss in weight loss programs. I agree with this view and will justify it by introducing principles and backing them up with official academic research as evidence. Adverse emotions can facilitate weight gain and disruptions in dieting. I believe principles such as Drive Theory, Self-Determination, Self-Confrontation and Self-Efficacy can counter weight gain and promote weight loss in weight loss programs. The concept of exercise opposes this view as it states that it the level and moderation of physical activity directly affects motivation and emotion and hence, the regulation of motivation and emotion cannot do without exercise. However, further analysis will explain why this opposing argument is not concrete. The essay will demonstrate tighter links with how principles of motivation and emotion affect the measures of effectiveness in weight loss programs.

Application of motivation and emotion principles in weight loss programs to lose weight effectively. Effects of motivation and emotion are the underlying core factors behind weight loss success. Research has shown that motivation is a strong determinant in self-regulation during weight loss (Teixeira et al., 2006). Also, it is reported that there is positive relationships between emotion-oriented strategies and eating. (Koff & Sangani, 1997). It is commonly believed that negative emotions leads to lack of motivation and triggers overeating (Herman, Polivy & Heatherton, 1990). However, experts argue that fluctuations of motivation and emotion are due to the level of exercise. I will show how principles of motivation and emotion affect the results of weight loss programs. I believe that Drive Theory, Self-Determination Theory, Self-Confrontation and Self-Efficacy are applicable principles that will facilitate success for individuals pursuing weight loss. I will evaluate on how negative emotions lead to weight gain and how positive reinforcements lead to successful weight loss through deductions from experiments. With these experiments, it demonstrates how supporting principles can be applied to achieve successful weight loss programs. Motivation is defined as a goal-directed behaviour such as needs, wants and interests that propel people towards that goal (Weiten, 2010), while emotion is defined as a subjective conscious experience companied by bodily arousal and by characteristic overt expressions (Izard, 2007). Hence, both motivation an emotion are closely linked because the subjective aspect of emotion can be due to an individual’s preference or perception of achievement. Motivation and emotion are often interlinked with each other as emotion can cause motivation and vice versa (Zurbriggen & Sturman, 2002). I will explain these interlinks with how negative emotions leads to lack of motivation; therefore influencing bad eating habits, and how positive motivations improves emotions in respect to weight loss issues. Negative emotions influences eating behaviours. Johnson and Larson (1982) conducted interviews with eating disorder patients and control subjects and concluded that patients were generally sadder than control subjects. Also, binging and purging occurred after feeling heightened negative moods. Dieters also ate significantly more after failures than after success (Baucom & Aiken 1981). Stress and anxiety are negative emotions that hinder weight loss. Stress results from being unable to lose weight despite dieting or by exhibiting disinhibited eating that disrupts diet. Anxiety is a major cause of binging and is correlated to abnormal eating (Rosen et al., 1987). According to the Kaplan and Kaplan (1957) Psychomatic Theory of obesity, it proposed that obese people overeat when anxious to reduce anxiety. Anxious dieters cannot differentiate hunger and anxiety and become accustomed to eat in both cases (Bruch, 1973). Stress and anxiety can be identified as an internal state of unease which means the individual is not emotionally stable. This is closely linked to Drive Theory as the concept to maintain homeostasis (Hull, 1935) can be applied to maintain emotional equilibrium. Drive Theory states that “a drive is an internal state of tension that motivates an organism to engage in activities that should reduce this tension.” (Weiten, 2010, p.397). Thus, a stressful and anxious individual would have the drive to be emotionally stable. The person suffering from stress and anxiety can go through psychotherapeutic interventions (Logue, 1998) such as self-help groups and behaviour therapy. These methods will strengthen a patient’s mental and emotional health to tackle weight loss. They will find meaning in losing weight and develop a firm drive towards their purpose. With strong will, they will be operating on push factors (Weiten, 2010) that will sustain the person’s motivation and emotion long-term. Hence individuals become autonomously motivated. (deCharms, 1968). Autonomous motivation is the essence of Drive and Self-Determination Theory. “Self-Determination Theory proposes that behaviour change will occur and persist if it is autonomously motivated.” (Williams et al., 1996, p.115). Self-Determination Theory is investigated in an Optifast program done by Williams et al., (1996). Autonomous behaviours are chosen because the individual has an internal perceived locus of causality (push factor) (deCharms, 1968), meaning that motivated behaviours are from within. Optifast proceeded over 26 weeks. Within 13 weeks, 128 obese patients went on a liquid diet. During 5-10 weeks, patients completed the Health Care Climate Questionnaire (HCCQ), which assessed their view on autonomy and the Treatment Self-Regulation Questionnaire (TSRQ) that assessed reasons for participating. 10 out of the 94 patients who did both tests withdrew. The 10 who withdrew scored lower in the TSRQ in comparison. 52 patients out of 84 remaining continued the follow up course had the highest scores in both HCCQ and TSRQ. They attended regularly, exercised regularly and lost most weight. Optifast shows that individuals’ autonomous motivation is an important predictor of the effectiveness of a weight-loss program. With autonomous orientation (Deci & Ryan, 1985), one would be self-regulating and wise to orient towards a goal. Apathy towards self- awareness is another negative emotion. Apathy can result in disregarding one’s diet. Restrained eaters (Herman & Polivy, 1980) binge because of apathy and scored extremely high in The Avoidance of Existential Confrontation Scale (Thaulberger & Sydiaha, 1977), a valid measure of rejection of meaning and apathy. Escape Theory (Heatherton & Baumeister, 1991) explains this phenomenon as an attempt to escape from self-awareness by narrowing their focus to immediate stimulus to avoid meaningful thought about identity. The narrowing of their focus shifts thinking to a low level so that they do not have to face mental obstacles. One mental obstacle can be the desire for food, and low level awareness gives rise to ignorance of weight problems. Thus, it makes it easier for them to fulfil cravings. Feelings of inadequacy to high standards and success cause them to escape reality. Preloads preceding meals such as ice-cream is an example of an immediate stimulus. Ruderman (1986) researched about preloads and concluded that restrained eaters ate more than unrestrained eaters after. It is a disinhibiting factor that causes dieters to think that the diet has failed and thus, they eat more. Value self-confrontation (VSC) (Rokeach, 1973) can tackle apathy. It seeks to change people's behaviour by changing a person’s priorities. Schwartz & Inbar-Saban (1988) conducted a one year experiment to see how participants would lose weight in VSC, discussion (DIS) and non-treatment control (NTC) conditions. 84 participants were assigned equally to VSC, DIS and NTC groups. VSC and DIS participants attended sessions with the same clinical psychologist each month while NTC participants received phone calls and attended sessions occasionally. The NTC participants will receive delayed VSC treatment for comparison. In the end, 52 per cent of VSC participants lost weight, 41 per cent of DIS participants lost weight and 61 per cent of NTC with delayed VSC treatment lost weight. Thus, people have the ability to lose weight effectively if they possess self-confrontation. Low self-esteem is another negative emotion. Dieters hold lower self-esteem than nondieters (Heatherton & Baumeister, 1991). Herman, Polivy and Heatherton (1990) studied that manipulations that threaten self-esteem is a disinhibiting factor and renders overeating. Also, struggling to lose significant numbers and failed diets lowers self-esteem. This may be due to the set point theory (Keesey ,1986), which states that each person has a biological stable weight that the body maintains. Dieters face a problem of further weight loss because metabolic rate decreases when weight is under set-point to suppress further weight loss. However, settling-point theory proposes that weight drifts around the level at which the constellation of factors determine how the body achieves weight equilibrium. (Pinel et al., 2000). An experiment was done to examine if weight regain was evident amongst dieters to analyse set-point. The findings indicated that the resting metabolic rate (RMR) of dieters did not decrease significantly and increased after exercise and that down regulation of RMR is not a characteristic of dieters and does not explain weight regain. (Weisner et al., 2000). Thus this settling point theory can promote the mind-set that lean body mass is achievable. Dieters would be encouraged and believe that they can reach their desired weight. Believing in oneself is also called Self-Efficacy. Self-efficacy is defined as a belief in ability to succeed in challenging situations (Bandura, 1977). An eight week trial investigated the impact of Self-Efficacy on overweight people (Linde et al., 2006). Participants attended a one hour group session led by a trained facilitator. Eating Self-Efficacy was assessed with a scale test at regular intervals. Scale test included the Weight Efficacy Life-Style Questionnaire (Clark et al., 1991). Participants also followed dietary restrictions and exercise routines. Results measured by standard deviation (SD) showed that weight control behaviours changed positively. Self-reported fibre intake (SD: 4.70-5.60) and physical activity (SD: 8.85-9.03) increased over time, and self-reported fat intake (SD: 11.41-9.99) and weight (SD: 12.77-5.14) decreased over time. Most importantly, self-efficacy (SD: 7.77-8.05) also increased which is the main determinant for weight lost results. Nonetheless, many question the relation of emotion and motivation to weight loss. Researchers have argued that exercise is they key problem solver to weight loss as it controls our emotions and motivation. William P. Morgan (1997), researched that exercise has great potential in treating psychological disorders. Firstly, exercise can reduce stress and anxiety as it reduces tension. In high stress, adolescents who exercise regularly have fewer stress-related problems than less active adolescents (Roth & Holmes, 1985). For anxiety, Raglin (1997) suggested that exercise can provide a change of pace; individuals feel more relaxed and less strangled with life stresses. Secondly, exercise can alleviate apathy, an emotion felt by many depressed patients. John Greist and associates (1978) has found tentative evidence that running therapy can treat depression. Rueter & Harris (1980) compared depressed patients who received counselling against those who received both counselling and running therapy. The latter group became significantly less depressed. Thirdly, exercise can increase self-esteem. Majority of reviews on exercise and self-esteem revealed that it showed a positive relationship (Sonstroem, 1984). Exercise can improvement the outlook on one’s physical appearance that boosts self-esteem; become more confident as an individual. However, research that does not reflect the direct influence of exercise on emotion and motivation are prevalent. For stress and anxiety, Sinyor et al., (1986) failed to find the stress-buffering and relaxation benefits in exercise. For depression, John Griest’s running therapy is of tentative evidence due to small sample size and absence of control group (Griest et al., 1978). For self-esteem, Sonstroem (1984) cannot provide evidence that exercise is a direct influence to self-esteem and that it was more of a contributing factor. To bring this altogether, I will refer to Janz & Becker’s (1984) Health-Belief Model. It is an expectancy-valence framework that has been formulated to explain weight loss success. This model suggests three conditions that motivate weight loss: (a) individual has internal locus of causality, control and expectations for behaviours; links with drive and self-determination theory as individuals have their own innate motivations to lose weight. (b) Individuals believe that weight loss will prevent life-threatening illnesses; links with self-confrontation principle as they will take action to curb health problems. Lastly, (c) individuals are confident to perform required behaviours to lose weight; links with self-efficacy principle as they believe that they can achieve success. In conclusion, I have explained how negative emotions have caused weight gain and how applicable principles such as drive and self-determination theory, self-confrontation and self-efficacy leads to effective weight loss programs. These principles have been substantiated with reliable weight loss experiments. The reason why exercise is not a valid opposing point was also addressed. Crucially, the health-belief model binds the principles together to create a stronger co-relation towards its effectiveness to weight loss. Therefore, principles of motivation and emotion can be applied to achieve effective weight loss programs.

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