Exploring the role of feeling fat in individuals categorized with bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder and overweight/obesity.

PURPOSE: Despite featuring in prominent theoretical models, the role of "feeling fat" in certain eating and weight disorder presentations remains poorly understood. This study compared levels of feeling fat between people categorized with referable bulimia nervosa (BN) symptoms, binge-eating disorder (BED) symptoms, and overweight/obesity, and examined the unique associations of feeling fat on measures of eating pathology and functional impairment within each of these subgroups.

METHODS

Data were analyzed from 977 participants who met criteria referable to BN symptoms (n = 419), BED symptoms (n = 346), or overweight/obesity without ED psychopathology (n = 212) based on self-report symptom frequency.

RESULTS

Analysis of variance revealed that feeling fat levels were highest in the referable BN group, followed by the referable BED group, and then the overweight/obese subgroup. Multiple regressions revealed that feeling fat contributed additional variance to functional impairment and key cognitive (e.g., eating concerns) and behavioural (e.g., dietary restraint) symptoms only among those who met criteria referable to BN.

CONCLUSION

Overall, findings suggest that the experience of feeling fat may be an important component of body image particularly among individuals with BN-type symptoms. Present findings may also have implications for the assessment and treatment of feeling fat among different eating and weight disorder presentations.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Cross-sectional descriptive study, Level V.