If you are engaged in a continuous battle of losing and regaining weight, it's not the scales you have to watch, it could be your own temperament that's letting you down, says QUT dietitian Lynette Mackey.
Ms Mackey is a practising dietitian and PhD researcher who is investigating whether a person's temperament hinders their ability to maintain a healthy weight.
She is looking for successful and unsuccessful dieters aged 18 to 65 to participate in her study.
"I'm looking for female participants to help me investigate how individual temperament affects eating behaviour," Ms Mackey, from QUT's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, said.
"We have two temperament dimensions which help us to avoid or go after something. The temperament dimension sensitive to punishment makes us more aware of things that may harm us while the dimension more sensitive to reward makes us more aware of things that are good for us.
"Most of the research on attaining and maintaining a healthy weight has looked at people whose basic temperament is sensitive to reward.
"My study is looking at both but particularly those sensitive to punishment as this is still a little known area."
Ms Mackey said she hoped her research would lead to a way to help people determine and understand their basic temperament so that they could consciously control their eating behaviour and maintain a healthy weight.
She said people sensitive to punishment had an avoidance outlook and that if they had difficulty regulating their emotions they may find themselves, often unconsciously, avoiding their negative feelings.
"I have observed that clients in my dietitian practice who are sensitive to punishment are concerned about what other people are thinking about them, they worry about making mistakes and doing things wrongly or not getting them done," she said.
"When the temperament dimension that is sensitive to punishment is activated it creates stress and feelings such as fear and anxiety.
"The experience of acute and chronic stress has been linked to low levels of serotonin and a depressed mood. Low levels of serotonin, in turn, are linked to an increased intake of carbohydrate rich foods and the ability to feel full or satiated.
"It follows, then, that the eating behaviour of a person sensitive to punishment could be geared towards alleviating those feelings, that is to improve mood and feel calm, even when they are full.
Ms Mackey is looking for female participants 18 to 64 who have been successful or unsuccessful in losing weight with a BMI of more than 25, who are non-smoking, not pregnant, and do not have eating disorders nor are on medication for anxiety or depression.
Participants will be required to take part in a 2.25-hour appointment in which they will be served lunch and afternoon tea and receive a $25 gift voucher.
To work out your body mass index, go to here.
To take part in the study, contact Ms Mackey on lynette.mackey@qut.edu.au.
Alternatively, you may access more information and the screening questionnaires for the study here: http://survey.qut.edu.au/f/183399/1856/
Media contact: Niki Widdowson, QUT media, 07 3138 2999 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au
