Being Over-weight = Naturally Happy?
Or the opposite?
Once upon a time, being over-weight represented a “jolly” image. An old Chinese saying also praised adding weight as 发福 (“growing happiness”).
So, do those imply that over-weight people wouldn’t have to worry about building happiness, having been blessed with natural happiness?
It turns out, “over-weight people are jolly” is an old stereotype not proved by science.
Individual cases might be different; however, statistically being over-weight has no established link to being happy, or “jolly”.
In fact, a population study led by one of my mentors found a link between being over-weight or obese and increased depression.
Due to related health and/or body image issues, as well as social stigma or discrimination, it is more important for our overweight or obese friends to put in conscious efforts to build resilience and protect mental well-being.
The good news is, building resilience, happiness, and mental well-being may turn around to help weight reduction efforts, if warranted by physical or mental health needs.
There is research, including some of my own research, showing that being happier is associated with reduced body weight, particularly among women in one of my studies.
This could be because happiness may lead to increased goal setting and plan implementing actions, more social support (or cheering on), higher adherence to healthy lifestyle choices, better mood or energy to stay active, and/or lower risks of relapsing into counter-productive episodes such as over-eating, therefore leading to higher success rate of weight reduction efforts.
In other words, happiness makes weight reduction easier to do and easier to succeed.
So, if you do need to, or want to, reduce weight, building happiness may just help!