About Weight Management and Body Image

Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight can be challenging, particularly with a busy lifestyle and access to delicious foods. Learning key principles about weight management and body image is helpful for achieving a balanced diet and a healthy dieting mindset.

Overview

How a person views his or her body is referred to as body image. A negative body image can sometimes result in eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia.  

Body Image

How people see their bodies is typically due to a variety of factors. In some cultures, being thin is ideal, and people compare themselves to that ideal. In other cultures, being thin is a sign of poverty and inability to afford food.

In general, women tend to be more concerned about their weight than men. An excessive amount of attention can sometimes lead to anorexia, a condition characterized by starving oneself due to disillusions about being fat.

Weight Management

Healthy weight management strategies involve understanding one's own views about ideal weight. Visiting a medical professional can help determine whether a person is in the right range of body weight. Measuring the ratio of fat to muscle also can assist in determining how much exercise must be added to the daily routine.

A healthy approach to weight management typically involves eating a specific amount of calories each day based on one's weight, height and activity level. Examining tendencies to eat a nutritionally unbalanced diet is important. Keeping a food journal is one of the suggestions made by nutritionists to help dieters understand their eating patterns. Little by little, new habits can be established to achieve an ideal weight.