Background

We have previously shown that patients preparing to undergo metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) often experience internalized shame (IS; viewing oneself as bad or inadequate) and body shame (BS; perceiving one's body as being undesirable or unattractive). However, there is limited understanding of how IS and BS relate to weight outcomes after MBS. The present study assessed associations of preoperative IS and BS with 6 month weight loss after MBS.Methods-MBS patients completed a 24-item subset of the Internalized Shame Scale (ISS; 0-never to 4-almost always) and a 3-item subset of the Body Shame Subscale (BSS) of the Objectified Body Consciousness Questionnaire (0-strongly agree to 7-strongly disagree) preoperatively. Multivariate regression analysis evaluated associations of ISS and BSS with 6 month total weight loss (%TWL), controlling for patient demographics (i.e., age, gender, race), BMI at preop, MBS procedure, and time between MBS and weight measures. Results-Of 146 participants (44.1+-11.8 yr, 80.8% female, 67.8% white, 44.9+-8.1kg/m2), 20 underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and 126 underwent sleeve gastrectomy. Among all participants, preoperative BSS (score15.0+-5.2; beta=0.123, p=0.056) and ISS (score: 57.9+-23.9; beta=-0.001, p=0.985) was not related to %TWL[DU1] at 6-month postop.Conclusions- Preoperative IS and BS scores were not predictive of weight loss 6 months after MBS. These findings may be reassuring to patients with high BS or IS prior to MBS, suggesting that healthy weight loss is achievable despite prior experiences, perceptions, or behaviors related to body image