Self-Regulation, Motivation, and Psychosocial Factors in Weight Management

Self-Regulation, Motivation, and Psychosocial Factors in Weight Management Pedro J. Teixeira,1 Jutta Mata,2 Geoffrey C. Williams,3 Amy A. Gorin,4 and Simone Lemieux5 1Department of Exercise and Health, Faculty of Human Kinetics, Technical University of Lisbon, 1495-688 Cruz Quebrada, Portugal 2Adaptive Rationality Center, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, 14195 Berlin, Germany 3Department of Medicine, Center for Community Health, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14607, USA 4Department of Psychology, Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention, University of Connecticut, 406 Babbidge Road, Unit 1020, Storrs, CT 06269-1020, USA 5Institute of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods (INAF), Laval University, Québec, Canada G1V 0A6 Received 15 October 2012; Accepted 15 October 2012 Copyright © 2012 Pedro J. Teixeira et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Any attempt to self-regulate one’s body weight takes place at the intersection of the external environment and innate biological predispositions that, especially when combined, can be highly conducive to energy surpluses and excessive fat mass accretion. Prominent examples of such factors are high availability of calorie dense, palatable foods, economical constraints that negatively influence lifestyle choices, and the human predisposition for liking sweet and fatty foods. As a consequence, it is no surprise that the majority of individuals have become overweight or obese, apparently “losing control” and “succumbing” to these external and internal obesogenic pressures. At the same time, it is known that behaviors related to body weight regulation, namely, physical activity and diet, are generally within the reach of voluntary control and regulation, as evidenced by studies of successful weight loss maintainers who report dramatic changes in their lifestyles despite being surrounded by seemingly obesogenic environments [1]. These improvements have frequently been linked to individuals finding new ways of relating to one’s weight and lifestyle, new self-perceptions, motives, goals, emotional responses, habits, and so forth (e.g., [2–4]). This apparent paradox is reinforced by a frequent tension between population-level (“environmental,” “political”) versus individual-level (“motivational,” “self-regulatory”) approaches to addressing the problem of obesity, which may be misguided; both will likely be necessary and one can inform the other. Various perspectives can be taken to address obesity prevention and treatment. One is that obesity, at a population level, is largely “caused” by environmental factors and consequently it should primarily be tackled with public health measures [5]. Other views, informed by advances in molecular biology, tend to favor approaches rooted in the genetics of obesity (e.g., prevention by early risk diagnosis) [6] and/or pharmacological solutions to treat the most prevalent forms of obesity [7]. Lately, interventions derived from applying principles of behavioral economics have come forth with solutions based on “nudges” and small changes in contextual “default conditions,” as they bypass individuals’ volition, biases, and errors in judgment [8]. While other perspectives exist (e.g., [9, 10]), this special issue is a statement that exploring psychological determinants of health behavior such as reasons, goals, expectations, values, beliefs, or self-perceptions - and getting individuals more (and better) motivated in self-managing their health, remain important aspects to address in fighting obesity. While, in concept, no one disputes that motivational factors or, more generally, psychosocial processes are relevant to understanding why people behave the way they do, in regards to their health, this topic has sometimes been presented as “old news” in obesity research, which is premature. We believe that a more productive stance is one that recognizes that a multitude of perspectives and solutions must be effectively integrated in order to more successfully fight obesity [11]. Environmental change may be slow to implement, can be very expensive, is often stalled by industries with competing interests, and can have unpredictable and even paradoxical outcomes, all of which makes research in this area a formidable challenge [12]. Furthermore, social and economical conditions will evolve, and many people will move across different physical and cultural environments through the course of their lives (sometimes for long periods), which could limit the efficacy of some environmental interventions. Therefore, it is crucial to also improve existing strategies and develop new strategies that help people better navigate obesogenic environments, wherever and whenever they exist, by maximizing their own self-regulatory resources. (...truncated)