Dr. Salsberg Featured in Healthing: Weight Loss, Body Image and Self-Love

Weight loss is often presented as a straightforward transformation: the body changes, health improves, and confidence naturally follows.

In reality, the emotional experience can be far more complicated.

I was recently featured in a Healthing article exploring the relationship between weight loss, body image and self-worth. The article considers an important distinction: changing the body does not necessarily change the way someone has learned to see or speak to themselves.

Physical change and emotional change do not always happen together

For many people, losing weight can represent a meaningful and positive step in their health journey. New medications, including GLP-1 therapies, are also giving more patients access to effective medical support for obesity.

However, the emotional effects of living in a body are shaped by much more than biology. They can be influenced by years of social expectations, stigma, personal experiences and internal criticism. Those patterns do not always disappear when the number on the scale changes.

Some people may feel more confident after losing weight. Others may find that their reflection feels unfamiliar, or that concerns they expected to leave behind are still present. Both experiences are valid.

This is why I believe conversations about weight loss should make room for the whole person—not only their measurements, medical outcomes or before-and-after photographs.

Where aesthetic care fits—and where it does not

As a dermatologist, I often meet patients while their appearance is changing. Rapid weight loss can affect facial volume, skin quality and the way someone recognizes themselves in the mirror.

My responsibility is not to suggest that these changes are flaws or that they automatically require treatment. It is to listen, understand how the patient feels and provide clear information about the options available to them.

Some patients decide that an aesthetic treatment would help them feel more like themselves. Others prefer to allow their body time to settle, or choose not to pursue treatment at all. There is no universally correct response.

Aesthetic care can support someone’s confidence, but it cannot create self-worth. It should never be presented as the final step required to make a health journey complete.

A more thoughtful conversation about confidence

Confidence is deeply personal. It cannot be measured by weight, prescribed through medication or guaranteed by a procedure.

What we can do as physicians is create space for honest conversations—without assumptions, judgement or pressure. We can help patients understand the physical changes they are experiencing while respecting that the emotional experience belongs entirely to them.

That approach reflects how I practise at AvenueMD. The goal is never to tell someone what they should change. It is to understand what matters to them and, when appropriate, help them make informed decisions that continue to feel authentic.

Read the full Healthing article: Obesity and the Search for Self-Love: Why Weight Loss Won’t Solve Everything →