Body Image Helps Weight Loss

If you’re on a weight-loss journey, chances are someone has told you at some point that you should feel good about yourself no matter what size you wear.

Here’s another reason to improve your body image: it may help you lose weight.

Researchers from the Technical University of Lisbon and Bangor University found that obese or overweight women who attended weekly sessions about improving their body image, understanding emotional eating and overcoming personal barriers lost much more weight than women who received general health information about nutrition and stress.

How much more weight did they lose?

Those enrolled in the behavioral intervention plan lost an average of 7 percent of their starting weight. The other group of women lost only 2 percent of their starting weight. For a 200-pound woman, that’s 14 pounds compared to two.

Dr. Pedro Teixeira, who led the research, said: “Body image problems are very common amongst overweight and obese people, often leading to comfort eating and more rigid eating patterns, and are obstacles to losing weight. Our results showed a strong correlation between improvements in body image, especially in reducing anxiety about other peoples’ opinions, and positive changes in eating behavior. From this we believe that learning to relate to your body in healthier ways is an important aspect of maintaining weight loss and should be addressed in every weight control program.”

Alice Warchol is a fitness instructor and freelance health writer.

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