The abstinence violation effect and very low calorie diet success

This study evaluated the relationship between Marlatt and Gordon's (1985) Abstinence Violation Effect (AVE) and fasting outcomes of patients enrolled in a Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD) and behavior education program. Within the first 11 weeks of the VLCD, 41 of 76 patients reported a fasting lapse and rated this lapse on an attribution scale. Patients reporting greater characterological attributions for their first lapse (i.e., a higher AVE) lost a smaller percentage of their excess weight during active fasting than patients reporting more situational attributions r(39) = -.36, p less than .025. First lapse AVE ratings did not distinguish between program dropout versus completer status, but high AVE dropouts did spend fewer weeks in the VLCD program than low AVE dropouts, r(12) = -.54, p less than .05. Although a faster's initial level of obesity accounted for the largest portion of weight loss outcome variance, the AVE accounted for a significant additional portion of outcome.