This section of the site will make available, in a broadly chronological order, the ideas of the reseach as it progresses. Confidentiality of all those participating will be maintained at all times and all detailed interviews are preceded by the signing of a letter of consent.

There follows the initial proposal from 2005 which has acted as a starting point for this work:

Malcolm Evans, MPhil/Ph.D Transfer

Title

Exploring long term “Yo-Yo Dieting”.

Aims

1. To access the lived experience of individuals who engage in long-term “Yo-Yo Dieting” cycles.

2. To gain a deeper understanding of individuals who engage in “Yo-Yo Dieting”, including a consideration of   “Yo Yo Dieting” as an Ethnic Disorder.

3. To develop a Typology of “Yo-Yo Dieters”.

4.    To understand the implications of cultural perspectives of “Yo-Yo Dieting” trivialised as whimsical behaviour, versus recognition as an Eating Disorder in its own right.

Background

Overweight is a major current topic in the popular consciousness. From the long-established dieting obsessions of the media, the issues of overweight have recently become increasingly politicised, with the Right moralising on the obligations of personal moderation and the Left agitating for legislative control of the “Junk Food” Industry.

Continually updated  and largely uncontested State body statistics show that the proportion of the adult population which is either overweight or obese has climbed steadily in recent decades: a recent report by The Royal College of Physicians (2004) puts the figure at over 50% and rising .  “Yo-Yo Dieting” is the widespread and popular term for repeated cycles of losing weight through serial calorie restriction periods, followed by periods of weight regain, often to a new peak. A “Yo-Yo Dieter” is commonly held to be someone who engages in a long-term relationship with such cycles, although there is scant research material in this area as to the etiology or defining characteristics of the condition – or, indeed, as to its very existence. This is a primary area of novelty of this study. Eating Disorder categories are generally held to comprise such conditions as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa (Ogden, 2004; Gordon 2000; Miller and Mizes 2001), with “Dieting” per se having little descriptive identity or unique understanding attaching other than as one of the possible causes of Anorexia and Bulimia. More lengthy pieces on dieting are usually found  in the popular media, sitting alongside entertainment and celebrity gossip.

Nasser,  Katzman and Gordon (2001) consider Anorexia and, particularly, Bulimia, as stemming significantly from the notion of Ethnic Disorder, as developed by Devereux (1980) – a culturally centered behavioural response - and posit that these disorders are increasingly being exported to growing numbers of individuals in developing countries. The associated concept of Pathoplasticity as described by Shorter (1994),  the mirroring of changing cultures by similarly changing aberrant behaviour, has been employed to consider the causation of Anorexia and Bulimia (Russell, 1979 & 1985; Lacey, 1993) and I believe these concepts may also prove insightful as an analytical viewpoint on Yo-Yo Dieting.

Significance of Study: As part of the background to this research, serving as a scoping exercise, I have for the last 18 months been running a series of public weight control classes in the Greater Manchester area which suggest that long term “Yo-Yo Dieting” may be commonplace, although lacking the aforementioned clarity of definition: I have worked with many women under the banner of my The Weight Foundation charity who have “Yo-Yo Dieted” several times a year for several decades and for whom eating, dieting and body image are obsessive, whilst their activities fall into no existing category of Eating Disorder. Thus, beyond the primary novelty of the development of a Typology of “Yo Yo Dieting”, the additional significance of this study lies in the attempt to access and reveal the life-world of long-term and hardcore dieting as it is, considering it not merely as a possible “stepping stone” to the “extreme” Eating Disorders of Anorexia and Bulimia. Through revealing the lived experience of hardcore dieters, it is hoped that there will be new knowledge from which clearer understanding and appreciation may lead, if appropriate, to more effective preventative education and more effective therapy and, ultimately, potential for a lessening of the long-term distress which accompanies a chronic lack of ease with eating and body image.

Methodology

This is a qualitative study. The methodology of data gathering will be Phenomenological as per Schutz (1967), as will the lead method of data analysis. The sex ratio of women to men showing Eating Disorders as commonly defined is discussed by Gordon (2000) to be generally considered in the region of 9 to 1. Men as well as women “Yo-Yo Dieting” collaborants will be sought in relation to this study, particularly as the study may suggest a widened definition of Eating Disorders to which such established sex ratios premised mainly on Anorexia and Bulimia may not necessarily correlate. A minimum of six collaborants will be sought,  striking a mixture of age groups and attempting to reflect both sexes. Multiple interactions will be conducted with these individuals over a minimum six month period. A minimum of 12 in-depth interactions with each collaborant is planned.

Whilst the core of the study is Phenomenological, the data will also be driven as appropriate through differing analytical lenses, as is an emergent theme in the qualitative research debate regarding Reflexivity, as discussed by Alvesson and Skoldberg (2000), and multi-method complementarity as developed by Miller & Fox (2004): in this way it is intended to push through the lived experience of “Yo Yo Dieting” into a richer discussion of its critical (power and gender) and cultural dimensions.

Key questions which will help focus the data collection and analysis include considering  common characteristics of the collaborants in their construction of the life-world of a Yo-Yo Dieter, identifying the culture that orientates individuals towards ongoing discomfort with their body image and their eating, and seeking an understanding of why commentators draw a line between Eating Disorders and individuals who engage in long-term and hardcore dieting behaviour. Analysis will be undertaken after each data collection episode and subsequent discussions will be refined via significant themes that emerge. It is intended to split the coming 12 month period into an 8 month period to locate collaborants and conduct the envisaged interactions, with the remaining 4 month period to analyse the data, conduct any revisits with collaborants as judged appropriate and to produce the MPhil thesis.

Ethical Considerations of Study: Various methods will be used to make contact with collaborants but there will be a clear distance drawn between the research work and ongoing Weight Foundation work to differentiate ethically between the relationships of, respectively, research and therapy and, also, researcher and therapist. Collaborants will not be admitted from ongoing Weight Foundation classes and the interactions will be open ended-interview , not quasi-counselling. One of these methods will be a media call as achieved by Garrett (1998) - a recovering anorexic herself who located collaborants for the exploration of spiritual aspects to recovery via a media call - and a further way will be via contacts within local PCT's and GP practices. There is, in addition, already a web site talk forum in place which will be publicised as a destination site for the discussion of diet-related issues. Having framed this proposal, I am now applying for clearance by the Departmental Research Ethics Committee.

Alvesson, M. and Skoldberg, K. (2000), Reflexive Methodology, New Vistas for Qualitative Research, Sage, London.

Devereux, G. (1980), Basic Problems of Ethnopsychiatry, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Garrett, C. (1998), Beyond Anorexia, Narrative, Spirituality & Recovery, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Gordon, R. (2000), Eating Disorders, Anatomy of a Social Epidemic, Blackwell, Oxford.

Lacey, H. (1993), “Self Damaging & Addictive Behaviour in Bulimia Nervosa”, British Journal of Psychiatry, no. 163, pp.190-194.

Miller, G. and Fox, K. (2004), Building Bridges, in: Silverman, D. (ed) Qualitative Research,  2^nd Edition, Sage, London.

Miller, K. and Scott Mizes, J. (2000), Comparative Treatments of Eating Disorders, Free Association Books, London.

Nasser, M. Katzman, M. and Gordon, R. (2001), Eating Disorders & Cultures in Transition, Brunner-Routledge, Hove.

Ogden, J. (2003), The Psychology of Eating, From Healthy to Disordered Behaviour, Blackwell, Oxford.

Royal College of Physicians, (2004), Storing up Problems: The Medical Case for a Slimmer Nation, Royal College of Physicians, London.

Russell, G. (1979), “Bulimia Nervosa; an ominous variant of Anorexia Nervosa”, Psychological Medicine, vol. 9, no. 3, pp.429-448, & (1985) “The Changing Nature of Anorexia Nervosa”, Journal of Psychiatric Research, no. 19, pp.101-109.

Schutz, A. (1967), The Phenomenology of a Social World, trans. Walsh, G. and Lehenert, F. ,Northwestern Free Press, Evanston.

Shorter, E. (1994), The Cultural Origins of Psychosomatic Symptoms, Free Press, New York.

A detailed paper on social science research ethics was also submitted and permission to commence the study was subsequently granted - the attached is an edited version and developing the concept of social science research ethics as Negotiated Stakeholder Value is an ongoing research interest. This theme of the ethics of research has also been taken up in a shorter conference paper to MMU researchers in July 2005 .

To date (writing in May 2006), however, a formal sample cohort has not been recruited, though it will be shortly. This is because ongoing and informal work with a number of individuals, coupled with an ongoing literature review and a review of data collected to date, is throwing up a number of provisional and interesting theories. This is Grounded Theory in action - the "Look, Listen, Stop, Theorise, Review......Repeat" approach.

Ideas have moved on in two key areas: 1. the possible segmentation of Hardcore Dieting (which is now a fixed, working title); 2. some provisional theorising concerning the possibly pathoplastic aspect of eating disorders and Hardcore Dieting:

1. HARDCORE DIETING*: "Yo-Yo Dieting" is a term that has been used for many years. It encapsulates the behaviour of losing weight, only to regain it - and possibly a little more besides. However these sometimes large and often long-term cycles of loss and gain appear not to be whole of the Hardcore Dieting Story. There are individuals for whom the cycles of indulgence and restriction can be packed within a single day - a morning of emotionally charged eating followed by an afternoon of remorseful abstinence (or vice versa). Whatever the frequency (this word is suggesting itself as the describer of the Hardcore Dieting cycle's duration) of a completed cycle, the common feature is a continous discomfort towards food. One of the key differences between extended "Frequency" and very brief Frequency is that the former will quite possibly feature quite dramatic swings of overall weight, whilst the latter may result in a mostly static weight. Working terms that are suggesting themselves within Hardcore Dieting are "Swingers" for the classic loss and regain pattern and "Flatliners" for the shortened Frequency cases, where the more dramatic physical effects may be absent but the degree of unhappiness can be every bit as painful. And then there is the group whose members live their lives permanently wedded to a rigid dietary regime, yet divorced from the natural rhythms of differing tastes, hunger and from food as an occasional social celebration. These weighers and counters, trapped in their individual straitjackets of aberrant eating, are every bit as much Hardcore Dieters as the previous two categories. For them nothing changes - the pain of their relationship with food continues daily in virtually the same form......they are the "Lifers". (In relation to intellectual propery, the concepts of Hardcore Dieting and Food, not Mood - taking the Emotion out of Eating, which is a proposed book concept, these predate the establishment of the Charity and are used by the Charity alone by permission of Malcolm Evans, as are emergent strands of research, to further the Charity's aims of making understanding and assistance as widely available as possible. Other users are asked to note that normal intellectual property considerations apply and, from any academic users, usual acknowledgement is requested; all commercial interest is retained.)

2. THE CHANGING FACE OF DIETING**: The idea that eating disorders and Hardcore Dieting may not be timeless phenomena is taking shape (rightly or wrongly) across time and cultural norms:

It may be that in the immediate post-war period that women were expected to be "dutiful and traditional" and it may be that eating disorders in the traditional sense were comparatively rare and that dieting was very much a minority activity.

It may be that in the 60's and 70's that an expectation of change and rebellion were prevalent and that whilst Anorexia was on the rise, so too was "lifestyle dieting", certainly amongst the chic set.

And on in to the 1980's and the mid-90's, as the image of the high-achieving superwoman emerged, so was more and more Bulimia identified and so were extended instances of Yo-Yo Dieting.

Rolling onwards to today, the words "stressed" and "juggling" prevail (one's life has to be "hectic" to be in the game), Anorexia appears to have peaked (it is being "exported" now to Second World countries) and Hardcore Dieting appears pervasive.

* & ** as of mid-2006, the academic research project has hardened around the novel concepts of HARDCORE DIETING & THE CHANGING FACE OF DIETING. Dialogue is welcomed with other academics and researchers.