Dietary changes in an acceptance-based weight loss pilot intervention study.

Objective: To evaluate pre-post changes in dietary intake and the possible role of emotional eating (EE) as a mediator of dietary changes in a novel behavioral weight loss intervention (Live FREE).

Design: Secondary analysis of an open label pilot study.

Participants: Thirty-nine adults with overweight/obesity and EE.

Intervention: Live FREE is a 16-week group-based program in which participants learn emotional regulation skills from Dialectical Behavior Therapy followed by traditional behavioral weight loss techniques.

Main Outcome Measure: Dietary intake and EE were measured at baseline and post-treatment with the Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Dietary Assessment Tool and the depression subscale of the revised Emotional Eating Scale.

Analysis: Paired sample t-tests and mediation for repeated measures designs.

Results: Consumption of calories (t(33) = 5.31, p < .001), saturated fat (t(33) = 5.25, p < .001), and added sugar (t(33) = 4.44, p < .001) decreased from pre-post-treatment. EE change mediated the effect of the intervention on change in saturated fat intake pre-post-treatment, B = 6.16, BootSE = 2.47, 95 % CI (1.53 to 11.37), but did not mediate change in caloric or added sugar intake.

Conclusions And Implications: Participants reported improvement in caloric, saturated fat, and added sugar intake. Improvement in EE may be closely related to decreasing saturated fat consumption. (200).