Obesity and body image

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: The opinion prevailing in western culture is that overweight people should be ashamed of their weight and looks. The idea is supported by the way the society perceives overweight people. Evidence that obesity is associated with chronic illness and a short life span is the main justification. However, the distorted body image does not seem to facilitate weight control. Source and method: The purpose of the thesis is to present obese people body image. To present the data, the following electronic databases have been searched: PubMed, Elsevier, Cochrane Library. The bibliographic analysis of the selected studies has also been performed. The systematic literature search has been performed with the use of the following key words: “obesity” OR “overweight” AND “body image” OR “body dissatisfaction” OR “body acceptance” OR “body image”. Discussion: We present a discussion of the results obtained. Conclusions: The research indicates that negative body image can actually contribute to obesity-related health problems. Overweight and obese people, who accept their body weight, experience less physically and mentally “bad” days than people who are dissatisfied with their weight. Body dissatisfaction was identified as a psychological corellator of obesity related with eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. However, not all obese people are equally affected by these correlates. “Normative dissatisfaction” also occurs in people with normal body weight. In this context, the complex correlation between body image and individual body weight seems to be a valuable research direction.