Obese People Fail to Recognize How Fat They Are: Survey

By Staff Reporter - 19 Sep '14 05:09AM

A survey finds almost 71 percent of obese Americans underestimate their body size and weight.

Past studies have found parents of children with unhealthy body weight and obesity fail to recognize and accept the condition. With obesity turning out to be a global epidemic, experts found most of overweight individuals are mostly in denial and do nothing to avert the risk of health conditions.

The research involved 253 mothers who were interviewed about their children's body weight and their opinion on healthy body weight and size. About 72 percent of the participants were Hispanic. Nearly 71 percent of the women who were obese and 35 percent of overweight participants were found to have a wrong image about another persons' body size. They mostly underestimated obesity as a normal body condition, reports the Medical Xpress.

These observations were found in nine percent of those with normal and healthy body weight. In addition, it was noted 80 percent of mothers with chubby children underestimated obesity compared to seven percent of women with normal weight children. The finding also revealed 86 percent of overweight children and 62 percent of obese children had difficulty in judging ideal body size. Majority of them reportedly assumed they weighed lesser than their real weight.

The authors warn these attitudes of parents and children will encourage unhealthy habits and eating that will translate to a number of illnesses and diseases.

"The failure to recognize abnormal weight occurs more often among overweight or obese mothers and children. Children of obese mothers often also underestimate adult size, suggesting that tolerance of being overweight is common among children exposed to obese parents,' said Tracy Paul, study author and researcher from Weill-Cornell Medical College, reports the Medical Xpress.

"This is worrying, as flawed weight perception impedes one's ability to recognise obesity and its risks as a personal health issue," she adds, reports the Free Press Journal.