This is where therapy and self-help books are useful.
A self-help classic, (one of the 50 classic self-help books, according to some lists like the Butler-Bowdon list) is Psycho-Cybernetics.
It was written by Maxwell Maltz, a renowned plastic surgeon.
He wrote Psycho-Cybernetics, because he discovered that not all self-esteem problems can be solved by correcting physical flaws.
Some of his patients suffered from low self-esteem problems, even after they underwent plastic surgery, and the flaw that they thought their low self-esteem was due to, was corrected.
Psycho-Cybernetics contains other strategies to boost self-esteem.
You can find a short summary of the book on websites like Short Form.
You can also find the entire PDF of Psycho-Cybernetics online.
I would also recommend the book The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, if the client is a woman, because women have their own unique set of problems, related to societal expectations of what they are supposed to be like, and what lives they are expected to be happy with.
It is a huge relief when we are able to shake off our self-esteem problems, and our eyes are opened to the fact that what we think is the problem, is not the problem.
And this is what you should aim to do - open their eyes to the fact that weight loss is not the whole answer.
“Bad leads to good”, as I often say.
Your client had to succeed at the weight loss, for both you and them to realize, that their problem is not purely cosmetic.
It is a generalized dissatisfaction problem.
The dissatisfaction will go away, or reduce, only when your client makes meaningful progress in the area of the dissatisfaction.
So my advice is to start by familiarizing yourself with Psycho-Cybernetics and The Feminine Mystique.
Then guide your client towards non-cosmetic improvements in their life.
It is a relief when we can give up our self-absorption and self-indulgence, both of which cast a dark shadow on the life of someone with low self-esteem.
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