Health Beliefs, Food Habits, and Appearance Schemas in Individuals with Centripetal Obesity: A Descriptive Study

Centripetal obesity refers to excessive visceral fat in which the abdomen protrudes, having a pot-like belly. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out to examine the distribution of health beliefs, food habits, and appearance schemas across diverse demographic, clinical, and health factors. The participants (N =140) with a mean age of M = 38.60, S.D = 10.79, comprised of individuals with a BMI > 30, visceral fat for women >32, and men >36 inches (IDF, 2007), were recruited from weight loss clinics, bariatric surgery centers, and from the general population of Lahore. Most of the previous studies highlighted that centripetal obese individuals are vulnerable to various chronic diseases, but limited research has addressed health beliefs, eating habits, and appearance schemes in these individuals. So, the descriptive study was carried out, and findings revealed that the majority of the individuals reported moderate importance to functional beliefs (one’s ability to carry out daily tasks), biomedical beliefs (absence of illness), wellbeing beliefs (vitality), had healthy food habits, and were highly concerned about appearance schemas. The study variables differed across age, gender, education, birth order, marital status, duration of obesity, waist circumference, BMI, and screen time. Monthly family income emerged as a negative predictor of appearance schemas, with lower income associated with higher appearance concern. The findings highlighted the significance of demographic, clinical, and health factors in shaping their health beliefs, food habits, and appearance schemas. Furthermore, the study can help in reducing weight-related stigmatization, targeted interventions to promote healthy food choices, providing culturally relevant psychological counselling, and addressing these issues in vulnerable populations, which may reduce body dissatisfaction and improve overall health outcomes.