186 Obesity Treatment
In addition, weighing involves a comparison with social norms, which may
facilitate any existingself-perceptions of abnormality. In an experimental
study to explore the immediate impact of weighing, normal-weight subjects
were weighed and sequentially allocated to either the “average weight,” the
“underweight,” or the “overweight” group according to a fictional height–
weight chart (Ogden and Evans, 1996). The results indicated that subjects
who were told that they were overweight showed a deterioration in mood
and self-esteem but no change in body image when compared to both
the “underweight” and the “average” weight groups. In a similar study,
McFarlane, Polivy, and Herman (1998) concluded that dieters who were
told that they weighed 5 lbs more than they actually did also reported lower
mood and lower self-esteem than the dieters who were told that they were
lighter or were not weighed at all. In addition, these dieters also ate more
food in a subsequent taste test. The effect of repeated weighing was also
examined in a small-scale exploratory study (Ogden and Whyman, 1997).
The results indicated that subjects who weighed themselves every day for two
weeks reported increases in both anxiety and depression and decreased self-
esteem. Weight stability or gain was related to increased depression and body
dissatisfaction, whereas weight loss was related to increased body satisfac-
tion. These studies suggest that even in the short term, weighing may not
be the benign intervention it is assumed to be, and has negative consequences
for those who do not show the desired outcome of treatment. The poten-
tial problems with weighing are illustrated by Judy Mazel, in The Beverly
Hills Diet. She said that the scales have “more effect on us than an atom
bomb” and described,
When I looked in the mirror my hip bones had vanished...I was terrified.
The whale that I had once been was looming. I inched onto the scale with
dread and horror. With one eye shut, barely breathing, I looked down. Three
numbers stared up at me – 102. I had not gained an ounce!...I was over-
come with joy and relief, and when I looked in the mirror again, my hip
bones had reappeared. (Mazel, 1981)In contrast, however, there is some evidence that weighing may be
beneficial. Wing et al. (2007) explored daily weighing in a population of
obese patients involved in the STOP regain clinical trial. The results
showed that patients in the intervention group reported an increase in daily
self-weighing and this increase was associated with increases in dietary
restraint, decreases in disinhibition, and decreases in depressive symptoms.