Positive body image may help you shed extra weight

A new study suggests that for overweight and obese women hoping to lose weight, a positive body image may help. In research published July 18, dieting women who underwent counseling to improve their body image dropped more weight than women who were only given general health advice

Researchers from the Technical University of Lisbon and Bangor University in Wales enlisted overweight women in a year-long study, with the counseling group losing an average of 7 percent of their starting weight. The control group lost less than 2 percent on average.

In the study, all of the women received information on nutrition, stress management, and self care, but half of the women also attended 30 weekly group sessions addressing emotional eating and body image.

"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," study researcher Pedro J. Teixeira said in a statement.

"Our results showed a strong correlation between improvements in body image, especially in reducing anxiety about other people's opinions, and positive changes in eating behavior," Teixeira said. "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."

This study follows one from 2007 that found that dietary counseling boosted weight loss in overweight subjects. Subjects who were counseled on their eating habits lost about 6 percent more weight than the control group. Another published this year found that in overweight urban women and children, most think they weigh less than their actual weight, which indicates that further research needs to be done on weight and body image, researchers noted.

Almost a quarter of men and women in England and over a third of adults in the US are obese. Obesity increases the risk of diabetes and heart disease and can significantly shorten a person's life expectancy.

The findings of the latest study were published on July 18 in the Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.