Lower weight loss expectations and healthier eating attitudes in older overweight and obese women attempting weight loss

Abstract

Weight loss outcomes in overweight and obese individuals may be influenced by individual weight loss expectations (WLEs). Research on these phenomena in older women is lacking. This cross-sectional study compared groups of younger and older women on their WLEs and related attitudes (body dissatisfaction and disordered eating). Twenty-six younger (18-38 years) and 33 older (60-78 years) overweight and obese women were recruited from a weight loss clinic, prior to treatment. Disordered eating attitudes and body dissatisfaction were assessed using validated questionnaires and a pictorial figure-choice scale. Participants reported 10 WLEs categorized according to personal, lifestyle and social factors. Overall, women with a higher body mass index had greater WLEs. Older women reported lower WLEs than younger women (-14.5 kg vs. -22.4 kg) in all categories except past weight. Older women perceived that career success would necessitate the greatest level of weight loss (-18.5 kg), whereas younger women derived their greatest WLEs from mass media (-28.5 kg). Both older and younger groups perceived that their families would be supportive of the smallest amount of weight loss (-8.4 and -17.6 kg, respectively). The groups did not differ on body dissatisfaction, but younger women's disordered eating attitudes were significantly higher (p < .001). Older overweight and obese women have lower WLEs than younger women but experience similar levels of body dissatisfaction and healthier eating attitudes. The attitudinal constructs underlying these differences may be useful in clinical practice to tailor age-specific weight loss interventions.

Impact of Weight-Related Discrimination, Body Dissatisfaction and Self-Stigma on the Desire to Weigh Less

“…This goes align with recent findings from a meta-analysis on obesity and discrimination [53]. Our results reveal that female participants, younger participants, and participants with higher BMIs wanted to lose more weight than their counterparts, going align with the literature [12,18,23]. The discrepancy between current weight and desired weight was greater when participants reported discrimination due to their weight as well as internalized stigma.…”

Support needs of patients with obesity in primary care: a practice-list survey

“…The former finding suggests that primary care staff should be particularly sensitive to the importance of body image and drive to improve fitness amongst younger patients. Counter-intuitively, but in keeping with recent meta-analytic findings [ 24 ], younger participants had higher numbers of previous weight loss attempts than older participants, potentially a consequence of greater social pressure to lose weight in this group [ 43 ]. Such pressure may also explain our finding that those with greater numbers of weight loss attempts were more likely to be motivated by appearance concerns.…”

Body size perception and ideal body size in overweight and obese young adult women

“…This over-estimation of actual body size by overweight women may have implications for future weight loss programs, since body satisfaction often causes psychological, social, self-esteem and diet issues [9, 16, 20, 23–24]. If a weight loss program only emphasizes weight reduction without considering body size misperception and body size inaccuracy, it may produce a negative body image that increases unhealthy weight loss behaviors (e.g., binge eating) [1].…”

“…This plan could reinforce a healthy body image when setting initial weight loss goals, as well as provide better support for continued weight loss and the maintenance of achieved target weight. Since the accuracy of a woman’s body size perception can have a substantial impact on her physical and mental health, body size perception needs to be considered whenever the health of an overweight or obese young adult woman is discussed [1, 11, 25]. …”

“…The parent study recruited 107 males and females who were between the ages of 18–29, overweight (BMI 25–29) or obese (BMI≥30), and exercised less than 90 minutes per week [19]. In this sub-study, we focused on young women, who are more vulnerable to body image issues and eating disorder than young men or older women [20, 21]. Further, individuals with a BMI of higher than 39.5 were excluded due to the limitations of the Body Image Assessment Tool-Body Dimension (BIAS-BD) (see more details in the measurement section).…”