Does short-term fasting promote changes in state body image?

• College students completed a state body image measure before and after fasting.
• Men reported more positive state body image overall.
• BMI was inversely related with state body image.
• Disinhibition was positively related to changes in body image after fasting.
• Reports of voluntary fasting positively related to improved body image after fasting.

Fasting, or going a significant amount of time without food, is a predictor of eating pathology in at-risk samples. The current study examined whether acute changes in body image occur after an episode of fasting in college students. Furthermore, it evaluated whether individual difference variables might inform the relationship between fasting and shifts in body image. Participants (N = 186) included male (44.7%) and female college students who completed the Body Image States Scale (BISS) and other eating-related measures before a 24-h fast. Participants completed the BISS again after fasting. While no overall changes in BISS scores emerged during the study, some individuals evidenced body image improvement. Baseline levels of disinhibition and self-reported fasting at least once per week uniquely predicted improvement in body image. Individual difference variables may play a role in how fasting could be reinforced by shifts in body image.