What my body looks like and what my body can do: A self-perception explanation of excessive exercise in young adults with anorexia and/or bulimia

Abstract

The present study examined the relationships between quantitative and qualitative dimensions of excessive exercise (EE) with the physical self-perception's dimensions and perceptual perspectives of body image (i.e., allocentric/3rd person and egocentric/1st person perspectives). The eLoriCorps Immersive Body Rating Scale 1.1, the very short form version of the Physical Self-Inventory and the Exercise and Eating Disorder test were used. The study includes 36 people with anorexia and/or bulimia seeking an external and specialized transdisciplinary program for eating disorders. Results show a different correlational profile of physical self-perceptions depending on the dimension (qualitative or quantitative) used to define EE. Differences in the perspectives used to assess body dissatisfaction (allocentric or egocentric) were also found. Perceived physical appearance was the key predictor of the qualitative dimension of excessive exercise. Findings suggest that EE in patients with an eating disorder could be explained by the feeling of competence not only related to physical appearance but also to physical abilities.

Keywords: body image; compulsive exercise; physical activity; physical self-concept; virtual reality.

Figure 1

Egocentric and allocentric perspectives of eLoriCorps Immersive Body Rating Scale used with females participants. The screenshots are not perfect replicas of images displayed in VR because of variations in viewpoints in the egocentric illustration and a fisheye distortion in the allocentric illustration. Illustration reproduced from Monthuy-Blanc et al. (2022) with the permission of the authors under the Creative Commons Attribution license.