Eating in response to exercise cues: Role of self-control fatigue, exercise habits, and eating restraint.

Identifying moderators of compensatory eating is important for understanding the failure of many people to lose weight in response to increased exercise levels. A previous study demonstrated that individuals shown action words (e.g., "active" or "go") were primed by these words to increase energy intake. Further studies have demonstrated that individual differences (e.g. differences in body mass) affect susceptibility to relevant priming cues. Based on these findings, this study examined individual differences, including exercise habits, tendencies toward compensatory eating, dietary restraint, and body mass that may serve as moderators of compensatory eating in the context of conceptual priming. A 2 × 2 design was utilized to analyze the effects of both priming and a self-control task on energy intake. Participants were presented with several snack foods under the guise of a taste test, with energy intake (kcal) during this taste test as the primary outcome variable. Results of this study indicate that, among those with higher baseline levels of exercise, lower energy intake was found for those exposed to exercise cues relative to those who did not receive these cues. In addition, the influence of the self-control fatigue condition was dependent on body mass index.

The Development of a Novel Measure to Assess Motives for Compensatory Eating in Response to Exercise: The CEMQ.

Compensatory eating in response to exercise may be an obstacle to achieving weight-loss and fitness goals. In this study we develop and conduct a preliminary examination of the psychometric properties of the Compensatory Eating Motives Questionnaire (CEMQ), a self-report questionnaire of motives for compensatory eating. Development and testing of the CEMQ was conducted in two student samples. Of respondents, 75% reported engaging in compensatory eating. Factor analysis yielded factors representing three domains of motives for compensatory eating: Eating for Reward, Eating for Recovery, and Eating for Relief. Internal consistency of the factors was adequate, and the factor structure was replicated. Correlations between the CEMQ subscales and trait questionnaires supported hypotheses for convergent and divergent validity. These results encourage further investigation of compensatory eating as a potential obstacle to weight loss, and support the continued assessment of the CEMQ as a tool to measure three conceptually distinct motives for compensatory eating.