Did you know that weight loss can actually make you happier in the long run?
Sara, one of SmartShape’s Gastric Sleeve patients, seems to think so.
“Being two years out of surgery, I am happier with my decision than ever. Managing my weight is something I work hard on every day, being mindful of portions and food choices but ultimately the results have been invaluable for me and totally worth it,” says Sara.
Quality of Life and Weight Loss
In order to discover how losing weight makes people feel happier in their lives, we have to understand why some of these people (usually living with obesity) are unhappy in the first place.
According to an article published in BMC Psychiatry called, “Long-term psychiatric inpatients’ perspectives on weight gain, body satisfaction, diet and physical activity: a mixed methods study”, some people suffering from obesity do not believe they have a good quality of life, and believe that losing weight would help with that.
“Most people were unhappy with their weight. Three quarters reported trying to lose weight. More than half worried about their body shape or appearance ‘some to all of the time’,” Susanna Every-Palmer, Mark A. Huthwaite, Jane L. Elmslie, Eve Grant & Sarah E. Romans say in their study. “A strong theme of shame and self-condemnation emerged for some, in which their weight triggered negative feelings about themselves.”[1]
How Weight Loss Increases Personal Satisfaction
But does this mean that weight loss actually improves personal satisfaction and happiness?
According to Austin S. Baldwin, PhD, Alexander J. Rothman, PhD, and Robert W. Jeffrey, PhD, it does.
In their article, “Satisfaction with Weight Loss: Examining the Longitudinal Covariation Between People’s Weight-loss-related Outcomes and Experiences and Their Satisfaction”, the researchers state that the majority of their study participants were satisfied with their lives after losing their excess weight.
“In univariate analyses controlling for the amount of weight people lost, nine of ten outcomes and experiences independently co-varied with people’s satisfaction, and the models accounted for 21–38% of the within-person variance in satisfaction,”[2] say Baldwin, Rothman and Jeffrey in their study. They also go on to state that there were more within-person changes than between-person differences.
What they mean by this is that the participants’ happiness came from within themselves, and they did not gain satisfaction from being different from others who may still have weight to lose. This within-person happiness, in turn, would then enhance these participants’ quality of life.
So according to Baldwin, Rothman and Jeffrey, losing your excess weight will create more satisfaction with yourself internally, which will improve your quality of life externally.
The New Year Deserves a New You!
SmartShape has helped over 6,000 patients improve their quality of life and achieve sustained weight loss since the clinic opened in 2005, and continues to be the leading provider of proven weight loss programs in Canada.
Our fully-qualified surgeons perform four life-changing procedures:
If you had LAP-BAND® surgery at SmartShape, our surgeons can also perform any necessary adjustments.
Let us help you achieve your New Year’s resolution to lose weight! If you’re ready to experience what life can be like after weight loss, feel free to contact us at (888) 278-7952 or online to speak with a specialist.
[1] https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-018-1878-5