Relationship of Exercise Volume with Change in Depression and Its Association with Self-Efficacy to Control Emotional Eating in Severely Obese Women

Abstract

Introduction . Exercise may improve one's perceived ability to control overeating related to negative emotions through psychological pathways such as reduced depression; however, the volume required is unclear. Methods . Severely obese women () participated in a 24-week exercise and nutrition treatment incorporating self-regulatory skills training, and were assessed on depression, self-efficacy, self-regulatory skills usage, weight, and waist circumference, at baseline and treatment end. Results . Subjects completing low-moderate (40–149.9 minutes/week) and public health (≥150 minutes/week) volumes of exercise had significant and similar reductions in depression scores. No significant changes were found for those completing <40 minutes/week. For all subjects aggregated, depression change was significantly related to change in self-efficacy to control emotional eating; however, this relationship was completely mediated by changes in self-regulatory skill usage. When changes in depression, self-efficacy, and self-regulatory skills usage were entered into multiple regression equations as predictors, only self-regulatory skill changes explained significant unique portions of the overall variance in weight and weight circumference change. Discussion . Exercise of less than half the public health recommendation was associated with depression improvement, with no dose-response effect. Changes in depression, self-efficacy, and self-regulation may be salient variables to account for in behavioral weight-loss treatment research.