18 October, 2005 16:54 GMT
After two years, study participants lost and kept off 13% of their starting weight, and reported their improvements in sexuality were stable.
Losing weight is not only good for your heart, it's good for your libido, according to a new analysis discussed here Monday at the annual meeting of the
Obesity Society.
Dieters who lost about 13% of their body weight over two years felt more sexually attractive, had greater sexual desire and reported other improvements in their sex lives, the research shows.
Feelings of Sexual Unattractiveness
Other studies have found that overall quality of life improves with weight loss, but little research had been done addressing sexual quality of life, says Martin Binks, a psychologist at Duke University.
So he and colleagues examined data on 187 obese dieters who attended a weight-loss program at a medical center in Minnesota several years ago. The participants were mostly women who weighed an average of 248 pounds.
Every three months for two years, the dieters were weighed and filled out a questionnaire which evaluated their sexual quality of life, including feelings of sexual unattractiveness, lack of sexual desire, reluctance to be seen undressed, difficulty in sexual performance, avoidance of sexual encounters and lack of enjoyment of sexual activity.
Before weight loss, about two-thirds of participants reported feeling sexually unattractive at least "sometimes." Those who were the heaviest were the most likely to report feeling sexually unattractive.
The study participants followed a weight-loss program that included dietary counseling and prescription weight-loss medications for two years. At the end of the first three months, dieters lost an average of 12% of their starting weight and reported improvements in all areas of sexual quality of life. The biggest improvements were in sexual attractiveness, willingness to be seen undressed and sexual desire.
'More Common Than We Thought'
The findings for women after 12 months (because most of the participants were women, the findings were more statistically significant for them):
26% reported not feeling sexually attractive, down from 68% at the beginning of the study.
34% reported not wanting to be seen undressed, down from 63%.
11% reported not enjoying sexual activity, down from 21%.
15% reported having little sexual desire, down from 39%.
15% reported avoiding sexual encounters, down from 29%.
12% reported difficulty with sexual performance, down from 27%.
After two years, participants had lost and kept off 13% of their starting weight, and the improvements in sexuality were stable.
"Not everybody who is obese is having a bad time sexually, just like not everybody who is obese has diabetes, but it's more common than we thought," says Binks, director of behavioral health at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, NC.
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