Correlates of Dietary Adherence and Maladaptive Eating Patterns Following Roux-en-Y Bariatric Surgery

Background Self-reported poor dietary adherence following bariatric surgery is associated with less successful weight loss outcomes. Poor dietary adherence is a global construct lacking specificity regarding its underlying, clinically targetable, maladaptive eating behaviors. Methods Comprehensive online survey data were obtained from a sample of 274 adults who underwent Roux-en-Y surgery in the prior 1–12 years. Correlations between dietary adherence and six eating-related behaviors were calculated, with the frequency of each behavior reported on a 7-point scale. Linear regression modeling was applied. Results All six maladaptive eating behaviors were highly correlated with dietary adherence (Pearson’s r > 0.5): grazing ( r = − 0.565), mindless eating ( r = − 0.572), loss of control eating ( r = − 0.517), eating “more than is best” after dinner ( r = − 0.518), eating foods off of one’s plan ( r = − 0.557), and “when I eat something off-plan, I feel like I have blown it and I give up and eat more” ( r = − 0.574). The estimated regression coefficients in the linear model was statistically significant, [ F (5, 261) = 60.006, p