ABSTRACT
Using a variety of activities, techniques or appliances to maintain body weight within certain limits is known as weight control, or weight management. The practice dates back to the ancient Romans who built vomitoria, which were passages in their amphitheaters where they would go deliberately to spew back their food-a practice not dissimilar to symptoms of what we now call BULIMIA NERVOSA. In fact, of the variety of weight control behaviors now employed, several involve EATING DISORDERS or analogous forms of PSYCHOPATHOLOGY. Much of the impetus behind contemporary forms of weight con-
trol is cultural, whether the sedentary lifestyle that contributes a variety of conditions associated with inactivity, including OBESITY, or the ideal of thinness that fosters BODY DISSATISFACTION and the oftenmaladaptive behaviors it triggers, especially among women. One of the effects of sedentariness is obesity, which is described by
Ethan Berke et al. as an epidemic and which ‘‘has been associated with many health problems, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, some cancers, DEPRESSION, and arthritis. Physical activity is believed to be an important determinant of health and body weight.’’ Physical exercise is a type of physiological compensation. It acts as
a STIMULUS contributing to body functionality and has been shown to be a successful INTERVENTION in the treatment of obesity. So, the benefits of exercise extend beyond weight loss and, according to Robert Dachs, exercise ‘‘appears to play an important role in maintaining long-term weight loss and in preventing weight regain.’’ It is not a panacea, however. Angelo Tremblay and Fanny Therrien’s
research carries a caution:
Even if one displays an exemplary DISCIPLINE in the implementation of a healthy lifestyle, the resulting impact is not unlimited [. . .] we have not been able to promote mass losses exceeding 12%–15% of the initial level without having induced metabolic and behavioral changes compromising the ABILITY to maintain subsequent long-term mass stability.
