E-ISSN : 2733-4538
The purpose of the present study was to explore the effect of restrained eating and current dieting on eating behavior. The restrained eating was defined as a long term eating habit of taking less food than their urge for eating, and dieting was defined as a goal-directed eating behavior of taking low calory for a short period. Subjects were college females, who were divided into 4 groups at their restrained levels basing on the median score on the Cognitive Restraint of Eating Scale, and the current status of dieting. Three kinds of icecream were used for experimental materials. The results of this study showed that restrained eaters ate less than unrestrained eaters. In the preload condition, restrained eaters ate less than in the nonpreload condition. In the preload condition dieters ate more than in the nonpreload condition. It suggested that dieters disregulated eating in the high calory preload condition. And restrained eaters regulated the amount of food better than the unrestrained eaters in both conditions. Undertaken for a short period, goal-directed dieting resulted in a disinhibition of eating as it made the dieters more sensitive to food. Therefore this study suggests that the long-term restrained eating is more effective for weight control than short-term dieting.