Research
Adherence
Emotional eating, particularly the inability to stop eating sweets or eating when stressed, is strongly associated with greater weight gain during confinement.
If you eat when stressed or can't stop sweets, you are at higher risk for weight gain during stressful periods. Develop non-food coping strategies for stress to protect your weight.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Subjects who reported having difficulty 'always' or 'generally' in stopping eating sweets had a weight gain of 1.7 kg compared to the 0.2 kg lost by those who 'never' had difficulty... participants who reported 'always' eating when stressed, angry or bored gained 1.6 kg during confinement, while those who reported 'never' lost 0.3 kg
Why this rating
Cross-sectional survey with self-reported emotional states and weight.
Source
Physical and Psychological Effects Related to Food Habits and Lifestyle Changes Derived from COVID-19 Home Confinement in the Spanish Population
Miguel López‐Moreno et al. · Nutrients · 2020
DOI 10.3390/nu12113445
cross_sectional · n=675Cited 215×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- COVID-19 home confinement led to significant weight gain in 38.8% of the Spanish population, with higher BMI and older age being positive predictors of this weight increase.Moderate
- Discontinuation of physical exercise during confinement is associated with weight gain, whereas maintaining or starting exercise is associated with weight loss.Moderate
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