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 This was true whether or not their perceptions were correct.
They also were more likely to overeat in response to stress, which
explained a large part of the weight gain, researchers say.
In the past, it was assumed that if people considered themselves to
be overweight, they would have greater motivation to change their
diet or level of exercise, the researchers write in the
International Journal of Obesity.
However, they point out, feeling overweight can also be risky, as
past studies have shown that people who feel discriminated against
because of their weight are more likely to gain weight.
Lead author Eric Robinson at the University of Liverpool in England
told Reuters Health by email that his team “wanted to test the
common assumption that being ignorant to one's weight status is
always a bad thing.”
The researchers used data from three different studies to determine
how people’s perceptions of their own weight affected their weight
gain in adulthood
First, they used data on close to 4000 18- to 28-year-olds from the
U.S. National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The study
collected information on participants’ body mass index (BMI), which
is a ratio of weight to height, and their self-rating of their
weight.
The researchers also used demographic information to control for
factors such as sex, age, race/ethnicity, education level, income,
and health conditions.
Around 40 percent of the participants considered themselves
overweight – and these young adults were more likely to gain weight
over a seven year period, averaging a 0.9 point increase in BMI.
This was true regardless of whether those participants really were
overweight.
The researchers also looked at data from the UK's National Child
Development Study, which followed 6,740 23-year-olds through to
middle age. Thirty-eight percent believed themselves to be
overweight at the start of the study.
Again, both overweight and normal weight people who thought they
were overweight were more likely to gain weight than people who
didn’t - about 0.8 points more in BMI on average over a 22-year
period. However, this effect was stronger for people who actually
were overweight initially.
The study team sought to control for factors known to increase the
risk of weight gain and found that the results were not due to
outside psychological, health, or environmental factors.
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Finally, using data from 3,372 middle-aged people in the Midlife in
the U.S. Study, the researchers assessed whether people perceiving
themselves to be overweight would overeat in response to stress, and
whether this would explain the weight gain.
At the start, 67 percent of participants believed they were
overweight- and these people gained an average of 0.3 more BMI
points over a 9-10 year period, compared to those who didn’t
consider themselves overweight. Stress-induced overeating was found
to explain a significant portion of the weight gain.
Jane Wardle, a clinical psychologist at University College London,
said by email that these findings are important because one public
health strategy has been to make sure that people who are overweight
are aware of it.
Wardle, who studies weight perception, noted that people who believe
they are overweight may delay their weight loss efforts. She said
that, “a person might decide they should definitely start a diet
tomorrow and meanwhile finish the cookies.”
Wardle advised that healthcare professionals can help people
identify practical steps to lose weight that are not too difficult.
Robinson is concerned about the findings. They “may tell us
something important about the experience of being an 'overweight'
person in the 21st century,” he said. “It's rare for identification
of a health issue to be associated with that issue becoming worse.”
SOURCE: bit.ly/1UYU57U International Journal of Obesity, online
August 7, 2015.
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