Not meeting the beauty criteria conveyed by society and believing yourself to be too fat promotes weight gain. Indeed, seeing oneself overweight promotes overeating due to the stress of having to reach the ideal weight. People who need to lose pounds for better health find themselves locked in a vicious cycle.
A previous study told us that teens sometimes have a distorted version of their body. Indeed, they would find it difficult to perceive and estimate their correct weight. 40% of those who are overweight underestimate their extra pounds, the findings of this new study tell us that people who consider themselves overweight tend to gain weight because they are stressed by the idea of the ideal weight.
Researchers at the University of Liverpool (United Kingdom) analyzed the perception of weight of 14,000 adults over a long period of time from 9 to 23 years, in childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
The findings of the study revealed that participants who perceive themselves to be overweight have an increased risk of weight gain regardless of baseline weight status and the correctness of their weight perceptions. Indeed, seeing oneself as being overweight promotes overeating due to stress.
“We need to rethink and reconsider the discourse on body weight, overweight and obesity,” the authors explain. “There are interventions to encourage overweight people to make lifestyle changes, there are interventions that can reduce discrimination.”
Obesity in numbers
Obesity has become a real public health problem. In 2010, the World Health Organization estimated that overweight and obesity are the cause of 3.4 million deaths and reduced life expectancy. Obesity and overweight are the risk factors for early mortality that increase the most. They cause type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol. With more than 3 million deaths per year, they move to 6th place in the ranking of health risk factors in the world.
In a report, the WHO says that Europeans are getting bigger and bigger: 27% of 13-year-olds and 33% of 11-year-olds are overweight. And, the number of overweight or obese inhabitants of the planet reached 2.1 billion in 2013 (including 671 million obese).
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