The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of an appreciative training environment combined with narrative coaching on overweight women's body image and how these potential changes may
affect women's sustained motivation regarding physical activity. Ten women with a BMI larger than 25, who had previously engaged in physical activity and associated this with negative experiences
were recruited to participate in an eight-week training intervention. During these eight weeks, the women spent two hours together once a week which included one hour of training and one hour of narrative group-coaching. Concerning the development of self-confidence and self-esteem this research takes into consideration recognition defined as respectively love and friendships as well as
solidarity by Axel Honneth (2003). During this study, empirical data was obtained through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews before and after the training intervention as well as coaching
sessions regarding the overweight women’s perceptions of their body-image and motivation regarding physical activity. The main focus is to establish how the women’s mutual recognition and relations
as well as feeling of belonging and their perception of their group, “Fedt Queens” (Fat Queens), as being unique, affected their self-confidence and self-esteem. The empirical data was transcribed,
then analyzed and the results indicated that the training intervention and all the elements that this examination included had a positive impact on the overweight women’s perception of their bodyimage, their self-confidence and self-esteem as well as their sustained motivation with regards to physical activity.