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Objective: To test the effect on psychopathology and quality of life of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Dietary Counseling (DC), and Combined Treatment (CT) in treatment-seeking patients with Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and obesity. Methods: Utilizing an observational study design, 189 obese adult patients with BED were treated by manualized therapy protocols. An independent assessment of health-related quality of life (Obesity-Related Well-Being questionnaire – ORWELL-97), attitudes toward eating (Eating Inventory – EI), binge eating (Binge Eating Scale – BES) and body uneasiness (Body Uneasiness Test – BUT) was performed at baseline, end-of-treatment, and six-month follow-up. These data are the secondary outcomes of a previously published treatment study. Results: A higher dropout rate was observed in the DC compared to the EFT and CT groups, while body weight decreased significantly in all three groups. Pre–post scores on the BES, BUT Global Severity Index, and EI Hunger subscale significantly decreased in the CT and EFT groups (but not the DC group). At six-month follow-up, 71% of participants in CT and 46% of participants in EFT had a BES score below the threshold of attention for BED (616), whereas no participants in the DC group reached this target. Finally the ORWELL-97 score decreased significantly in all groups, but significantly more so in the CT and EFT groups. Conclusion: Results support the utility of combining EFT and DC in the treatment of patients with BED and obesity, emphasizing the usefulness of techniques focused on cognitive emotional processing for changing eating disorder psychopathology and quality of life.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to compare objective and subjective assessments of physical activity (PA) in patients with anorexia nervosa and its effect on treatment outcome. METHODS: Both Actiheart (AH) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) were used to assess PA in 52 female patients with anorexia nervosa during the first week of inpatient treatment. RESULTS: No correspondence between PA estimated by IPAQ, which had a tendency to underestimate PA, and that measured using AH emerged. However, a significant association was found between the change in Eating Disorder Examination global score at the end of the treatment and light PA measured by AH (beta = -0.12, t = -2.44, P = 0.019), but not that estimated by IPAQ. CONCLUSIONS: PA in patients with anorexia nervosa is underestimated by subjective assessment when compared with objective measurement. Only time spent in light PA, assessed objectively with AH, showed a negative association with improvement in eating disorder psychopathology. Copyright © 2013 by the American College of Sports Medicine.