Body Image

This post looks at part of the work that I did for my degree dissertation where how you feel about your body affects your motivation to exercise.

The picture above /below looks at three things – so you need to do the test before you read the rest of this.  First, chose a picture of how you think you look at the moment.  Then choose the image you would like to be. Finally choose the image of what you think is the “most attractive”.

Once you have done the test, this is how it works.  It is not important where you put yourself on the scale but how many spaces there are between each of the choices you made. 

A person who feels good about themselves will have 0-2 space between their current body shape and how they would like to look. A space of 4 or more would suggest that feelings of self-worth are low and this can become a barrier to exercise. I would suggest that you also get someone to look at your choices as we found those with lower self esteem tended to choose their own body shape to be bigger than what they really were......

In addition to the pictures, each of the participants had to score anxiety about bits of their body on a scale of 0-5 (5 being the most anxious). These were stomach, bottom, thighs, hips, waist, muscle tone and extent to which you think you looked overweight.  You can do this too if you want!

The group then had to exercise 3 times a week with the only proviso being to do something that they enjoyed.  The theory behind this is if you enjoy a session you are more likely to stick at it (see earlier post) and that those who were motivated to exercise because of rewards or punishments (how attractive they felt, how bad they felt about themselves etc) were more likely to give up on exercise. Persistence is the key J

So what did I find out? Well, in addition to the group who were asked to exercise, we also had a group of regular exercisers to compare them with on these and other scores, and a group of non-exercisers. The results really interesting!  After 8 weeks, there was a marked improvement in self esteem and feelings of well being alongside decreased anxiety in how they felt about their body – however, be warned!! At week 4 this group actually felt worse about themselves as for the first time in a year they were exercising in the company of fitter people! This is some of the feedback I got  - “I felt good exercising, but during the class I couldn’t help comparing my body shape (unfavourably) to the other women in the class”  “I hate the fact that my belly wobbles when running on the treadmill!” “Did some stretching afterwards next to a woman with amazing abs which didn’t help!” 

At the end of the study the overall results showed that following 8 weeks of exercise the participants had increased feelings of self-worth, confidence, improved body image and self-esteem. The feeling of being “significant” (being loved) was further increased when the person exercising had support from other exercisers, the class tutor as well as family and friends – so share the love people J xx

Today’s challenge is to a) get in touch with someone to exercise with b) give a compliment or praise someone you are exercising with to make them feel good c) go to do some exercise with the main goal of enjoying yourself

Let me know what posts you want to see more of – physical fitness, this type of psychological stuff or food, nutrition etc. – and if you are interested in the whole questionnaire that I did, PM and I will email the word document to you (unless someone knows how to post this on FB!!)