Although people can lose weight from dieting, only rarely will they change the shape of their bodies, an equally important aspect of body image.
However, new research shows that many women nevertheless expect diets to change their body shape, which may explain why some, frustrated by the lack of effect from their efforts, have trouble maintaining their diets.
If women are dieting with the belief that weight loss will lead to shape change, they will fail to achieve their aim and this may be one reason that diets are likely to be short-lived and, ultimately, unsuccessful.
The study focused on women's preferred waist-to-hip ratio, representing the diameter of their waist divided by that of their hips. Previous research has shown that women prefer pear-shaped bodies, with small waists and larger hips -- a low waist-to-hip ratio -- presumably because this shape can signal health and fertility to others.
To determine whether women with higher waist-to-hip ratio hoped dieting might change their shapes, the researchers showed women with high and low waist-to-hip ratio a series of body images. Each image depicted bodies with different waist-to-hip ratio, and the women indicated whether they believed they could achieve a similar shape after dieting.
The investigators found that women with high waist-to-hip ratio believed that, through dieting, they could develop pear-shaped bodies. These expectations did not stem from women's misperceptions of their current body shape; most women, pear-shaped or not, correctly identified which image best represented their own waist-to-hip ratio.
Based on these results the researchers suggest that many women might begin dieting explicitly to change their shapes, and are in danger of being disappointed by their efforts.
Women in the high waist-to-hip ratio group may find adherence to diets problematic because the desired change in shape does not occur.
Consequently, along with increasing women's awareness that weight loss dieting does not lead to long-term weight loss, it is important to emphasize that shape change is also unlikely to occur through diet change.
International Journal of Eating Disorders 2002;31:339-343
Obesity is a major issue in this country with over 50% of us being overweight.
Following the eating plan is clearly one of the most profound physical changes you can have for normalizing your body weight.
My experience is that many, if not most, are unable to follow the program for a variety of reasons, and most of them related to emotional issues.
That is why EFT is one of the most effective strategies for not only following the eating plan but changing your image of yourself.
Loving yourself is one of the central keys to improving the negative choices in your life. Developing positive affirmations which actually rebalance your bioenergy system so you can make these changes is a central key to your success.
EFT seems extraordinarily effective at this. My chief therapist, Jody Stevens, will be conducting two workshops for controlling your weight later this year.
However, you might want to consider the EFT workshop that I conducted which is available on videotape. This series is more general but many have used the tapes quite successfully for losing weight.
Since increased physical activity can increase self-esteem and body image exercise can counteract potential negative effects on body image resulting from continued unsuccessful dieting.
That is why I would recommend an exercise program. If you use exercise equipment, you might want to consider the review on elliptical machines in this issue.