Depression is a risk factor for obesity. How can that help when trying to manage our weight?

According to Sarah Markovitz in Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, depression makes obesity more likely because it causes change in their immune system and how their hormones respond. But the research also shows that depression causes difficulty in generally taking personal care, getting up and about, overeating and having negative thoughts. This is the bit that I think is of general interest to people who worry about their weight.

While most of us who want to manage our weight better are not obese, many suffer from low self-esteem and low mood. So improving our mood and feeling better about ourselves is likely to have a positive impact on our ability to manage our weight. And if your experience of dieting for you is a series of failures, then dieting might worsen your mood........

Studies have shown that regular exercise can make you feel good (pleasure hormones are released about 20 minutes into brisk exercise - the dopamine rush). So the weight loss achieved by those who get into regular exercise and enjoy it, could be because they feel better about themselves and do less comfort eating.

Cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy can get you feeling better, treating yourself as a good friend rather than haranguing you and pointing out your weaknesses. We can get into the habit of aggressive and unkind self-talk. And you can get out of the habit too.

Many of my clients tell me that their lives will be much better if only they could lose weight. They will be happier, more successful at work and more likely to find a life partner.

To an extent this way of thinking suggests waiting until the weight has gone before getting on with important aspects of life - "I will defer looking for a partner until I am thinner". When our happiness is contingent on our being thinner, then happiness might elude us. We go on a diet, the results don't come quickly enough and we give up, feel bad about ourselves for failing, so we start eating again and continue to defer cherished goals.

So will we really be happier if we are thinner? Certainly feeling bad about ourselves can drive weight gain but will weight loss actually improve mood?

This question has been addressed by Anthony Fabricatore and colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania in a paper just published in the International Journal of Obesity.

The authors analysed 31 research studieson the relationship between weight loss and depression, involving 8,000 people.

Comprehensive lifestyle modification was found to be better at reducing symptoms of depression than control (where nothing was done to the patients) and non-dieting interventions. Lifestyle modification was also marginally better in improving mood than dietary counseling or exercise-alone programs. Exercise-alone programmess were superior to control interventsions in reducing symptoms of depression

Nearly all active interventions reduced symptoms of depression but there was no relationship between the amount of weight lost and the reduction in depression symptoms.

This analysis suggests that the lifestyle modifications intended to reduce weight tend to improve mood, rather than losing weight leading to less depression. 

This of course would not be hard to believe given the evidence that both dietary intake of certain (unhealthy) nutrients as well as increased physical activity can significantly decrease symptoms of depression.

So my clients who tell me that they that they would be so much less depressed if only they could lose some weight, is not borne out by these results. A more varied and active lifestyle will probably improve their mood irrespective of whether or not they actually lose weight. So get out more, go to that Zumba class, meet more people, walk to work, eat fewer crisps, watch less telly. You will feel better, and you are more likely then to lose weight.

Well, the simple answer is, when we are feeling good, when things are generally going well. When the ducks are in a row.

That gives you the greatest chance, because you will be willing to accept changing your eating behaviour as a process rather than demanding that your weight gets lower NOW!

When we decide to lose weight, it is usually because we think our body is not satisfactory. The trouble is that body dissatisfaction is related to lower levels of self-esteem. The relationship is significantly stronger for women than for men, and, curiously, about the same for both traditional and feminist women.

For both sexes, more negative attitudes towards one's body are related to greater proneness to depression.  You can read more of this research here.

Women have so accepted the new norms about body shape (these are social constructs, made-up ideas, and have nothing to do with the actual shape of human bodies) that body dissatisfaction is the norm too. Women are likely to perceive themselves as overweight or slightly overweight, regardless of their actual weight, and most want to lose weight. Men get dissatisfied with their bodies, too, and the number is increasing. Men perceive themselves as underweight and want to gain weight - so they can meet the social construct that men are muscly and strong.

Anxiety, depression and negative body image can have an impact on your eating habits and nutrition. In addition, poor or inadequate nutrition can add to depression and anxiety by increasing fatigue, lowering energy levels, reducing your ability to enjoy life and affecting your mood. Fluctuations in anxiety may, in some cases, be worsened by poor nutritional habits.

So what does this say about diets.

Dieting involves restrictions in calories or foods or simply the purposeful acceptance of hunger as essential.

By saving calories until the end of the day and cultivating blindly restrictive food limits, we cultivate hunger which will leads us to battle hunger. This battle with hunger if fought frequently will eventually just gets too irritating and bitter to fight. Too unpleasant. Too draining.

The risk is not just binge eating and to hell with self-control, but hurtful self-talk, leading potentially to depression and more serious eating disorders.

Cutting down on your eating and watching what you eat is a really good idea for health. But following highly restrictive diets, which don't result in long-term weight loss, is not worth the risk. Use hypnosis to get control of your eating behaviours in a sustainable way so you can lose weight without anxiety or distress.