The Obese Don’t Know They’re Obese? Give Me a Break

Published on April 10th, 2006

Posted by KB in General

Can you pick out who is fat?
I know this is a tuffy.

Does this bathing suit make me look fat?

Study Says Obese Don’t Know They’re Obese

About 90 percent of normal weight adults and 85 percent of overweight and obese adults accurately self-reported their weight and height such that the BMI calculated using those self reports fell in the same category as actual BMI.

That accuracy changed, however, when researchers asked participants about their perceived weight status, that is, if they would consider themselves NOW to be underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese. Seventy-one percent of normal weight and seventy-three percent of overweight adults classified themselves correctly, compared to only 15 percent of obese adults who correctly considered themselves to be obese.

The researcher then asked participants how much they would need to weigh to be classified as either underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese, and again the results varied depending on current weight status. On average, normal weight participants were reasonably accurate in these estimates, but obese participants overstated how much they could weight for every weight status category, from underweight to obese. For example, if a participant was 5;7″ and normal weight, they would estimate normal weight as 143 pounds (BMI = 22.4 kg/m squared) and obesity as 189 pounds (BMI = 29.6 kg/m squared) but an obese participant the same height would estimate normal weight as 164 pounds (BMI = 25.7 kg/m squared) and obesity as 233 pounds (BMI â€“ 36.5 kg/m squared.)

More research is needed into why obese adults do not consider themselves to be obese, with two possibilities being perception and denial.

Denial!! You think???

23 users responded in " The Obese Don’t Know They’re Obese? Give Me a Break "

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# 1 malren said, on April 10th, 2006 at 10:59 am

5′7″, 189 lbs is obese? Actually medical obesity?

Frigging absurd. Anyone stop to consider the BMI index is a ridiculous system?

# 2 Blake said, on April 10th, 2006 at 11:04 am

Those BMI things are a joke. I was VERY obese, I’ll admit it, as I was 512.5 pounds. I lost a ton of weight, gastric-bypass and dieting afterward, plus a tweaked metabloism, and am now bouncing between 178-181. By the BMI I’d be obese if I were 8 pounds more. Guess what? I wear size 32/34 jeans, small undershirts, and medium shirts.

Once I have some excess skin taken care of I’d classify myself as skinny. The BMIs are so out of whack it’s not even funny.

At 12 years old I was 152 lbs with zero fat on my body, according to my doctors test. I was only 5′ 5″ then.

Of course if you’re 300 lbs and 5′5″, yep sorry you’re obese.

# 3 SN said, on April 10th, 2006 at 11:07 am

There is some denial, but it has to do mostly with the way the BMI defines obesity. Most people define obesity as being friggin’ overweight. I mean totally f#cking fat. E.g., unable to sit in a chair without breaking it or unable to fit in a booth in a restaurant. Like the picture above.

But the narrow definition of obesity used by the BMI makes plenty of “normal” looking people obese.

It’s easy to get seemingly contradictory results when the two groups use different definitions of the same word.

# 4 BHK said, on April 10th, 2006 at 11:08 am

The whole BMI thing is ridiculous. I was once my “normal” weight after a long bout with illness and I looked ghastly thin. I’m a big guy and according to the BMI I’m about 50 pounds overweight. However, if I take a body fat test, I can only safely lose about 30 lbs. The rest is all muscle and other tissue. I definitely have a belly but it’s not very large and there’s no other excess fat on me.

# 5 tcmoore said, on April 10th, 2006 at 11:22 am

I think the girl is in denial about being blonde.

# 6 Jason said, on April 10th, 2006 at 11:55 am

BMI is invalid

# 7 BW said, on April 10th, 2006 at 11:57 am

The reason they don’t think they are fat is the same reason ugly people dont think they are ugly. Part denial / part survival, it would make the person depressed, useless and paranoid.

# 8 Ballookey said, on April 10th, 2006 at 12:04 pm

It might be a bit of denial, but that whole BMI/Obesity scale is WACK. One of my best friends is a rail-thin vegan girl about 5′8″ tall. I was astonished to learn she weighs 162 lbs. People have no objective clue what a healthy person SHOULD weigh, and additionally, the scale puts modestly overweight people at “obese”, which is just wrong.

# 9 Mister Mustard said, on April 10th, 2006 at 1:04 pm

>>One of my best friends is a rail-thin vegan girl
>>about 5′8″ tall. I was astonished to learn she weighs 162 lbs.

She must have lead weights in her shoes then. My gf is 5″9″, and “slim” (not even CLOSE to being “rail thin”) and she weighs about 120. If she put on an additional 50 pounds, she would look like Santa Claus without the beard.

>>the scale puts modestly overweight people at “obese”, which
>>is just wrong.

I’m not so sure about that. I am 6′1 and 212#, which gives me a BMI of 28….”overweight”. I’m in pretty good shape, but I could definitely stand to drop 20 pounds. If I got down to 188, my BMI would be

# 10 blank said, on April 10th, 2006 at 1:14 pm

I weigh 300 pounds now. I’m a disgusting fat-body. I’m fat and I know it.

However, I used to weight only 150 pounds. That was the lowest weight I’ve ever been in my adult life. I have pictures of when I was that weight…the weight that the BMI chart said I was in the upper-ideal weight category, almost tipping over to obese. When people look at those pictures they say I was WAY too thin. Yes, they say I’m WAY too fat now, but when I was 150 I looked like a skeleton, yet I was almost overweight according to the BMI chart.

So in other words, I think the BMI chart is full of it.

# 11 randmeister said, on April 10th, 2006 at 1:16 pm

1) That thumping noise you hear is not a fat person walking; it is popular culture bludgeoning us with what “beautiful” should look like. If someone looks relatively healthy or attractive, I don’t care what size their pants are. If someone is grossly overweight and has no sense of personal hygiene, that is different.

1a) I’ve GOT to lose 5 lbs by the weekend so I can get into my speedo.

1b) Trust me, you don’t want that.

2) I found a related post.

# 12 Jetfire said, on April 10th, 2006 at 1:47 pm

I’m not fat. I’m festively plump.

# 13 andrewj said, on April 10th, 2006 at 2:06 pm

I have yet to meet a fat person that believes they’re fat. The giveaway is when you spend a little time with them and hear the comments they make about other fat people.
The explanation is simple. It’s the same mechanism that God uses to protect dumb people from ever knowing how dumb they are.

# 14 Angel H. Wong said, on April 10th, 2006 at 2:09 pm

I love chubby, hairy, balding men; does that makes me a pervert?

# 15 John Wofford said, on April 10th, 2006 at 3:24 pm

1. Hi, Angel; uh, you are a girl, right? If not then disregard.
2. Thing about genetics; some of us are genetically disposed to be thin, some of us disposed towards corpulence. I’ve fought the fight against obesity all my life, sometime winning, sometimes losing. My most spectacular success was in my late thirties, I lost nearly a hundred pounds, nearly regaining my high school football playing weight. People asked me was I sick, did I have cancer, or was it AIDS? Thin people, those with the correct genetics, don’t have to fight anything, can eat and drink, lay on their backsides and have a good time. These people have zero rights to comment on the physical imperfections of anyone.

# 16 Zuke said, on April 10th, 2006 at 3:53 pm

189lbs @ 5′7″???? WTF does that look like? The person must be about as round as they are tall. That has to be overweight/obese unless the person is totally muscle-bound (which is much heavier than fat).

I’d agree w/Mister Mustard in that a 162lb woman at 5′8″ could not possibly be ‘rail-thin’ unless she had close to nil body fat % and was pure muscle! Or her head+brain was as big as a pumpkin and weighed 25lbs alone. No freakin way.

My GF is 5′5″ @ 130lbs is an avid runner and she looks about average for her height @ 23% body fat measure. Her BMI of 21.6 is smack in the middle of Normal for her height.

I’m an avid cyclist and weigh 145 @ 5′9″. I would consider myself average-to-thin, but far from a bean-pole. I have 11.5% body fat. BMI of 21.4 is smack in the middle of Normal for my height.

BMI doesn’t look all that whacked IMO…

# 17 AB CD said, on April 10th, 2006 at 4:01 pm

Aren’t Tom Cruise and Michael Jordan classified as obese?

# 18 Angel H. Wong said, on April 10th, 2006 at 4:59 pm

Dear John Wooford:

Yes, I’m a dude and yes I like my men on the chunky side so I don’t fit the mainstream gay community obssesed with youth and thin chiseled bodies.

Besides, that BMI scale is just messed up and it only adds to the paranoia/myth that stick thin is beautiful.

# 19 rus62 said, on April 10th, 2006 at 6:13 pm

The BMI test is like the BCS in college football, well actually the BCS may be more accurate.

# 20 GregAllen said, on April 10th, 2006 at 8:01 pm

As for me… I think the dieting industry needs to be banned… or at least have warnings prominently posted on their ads and products.

With failure rates of +95%, one can only conclude that dieting does not work.

Not even the “eat less, exercise more” advice that usually comes from smirky thin people who have no personal experience with chronic fat.

“Eat less. Exercise more.” is as informed as the “Just snap out of it!” advice they used to give the mentally ill.

# 21 DJ Ruden said, on April 11th, 2006 at 3:45 am

I’m a smirky thin person and I agree with the eat less, excercise more motto. I workout about 4 times a week, either something like a 2-3 mile run of weightlifting, and I monitor what I eat. I always look at labels to see how much saturation and trans fat I’m getting, try to get a lot of protein, and I try to stay around the 2200 calorie a day recommendation. The system works.

I have obese friends, and dare I say, they do no work out, and when they try, it’s a very pathetic workout. They eat a lot of pizza, chocolate, soda pop, and everything else that’s bad for your body.

While the eat less motto isn’t exactly right- it should be eat healthier. Sure some people have a legit physical condition that doesn’t help or larger bone structure or some other rationalization like that. I still thing the BMI is, for the most part, a good scale. I think some of you are in denial like the rest of the obese world. When a majority are overweight, it blurs your vision or what a normal weight person actually looks like.

# 22 Mister Mustard said, on April 11th, 2006 at 11:06 am

>>Aren’t Tom Cruise and Michael Jordan classified as obese?

Not sure about Michael Jordan, but Tom Cruise has officially been classified as “deviant”.

Hope this helps.

# 23 ballookey said, on April 11th, 2006 at 1:39 pm

Ugh, you guys are a bunch of jackals. Here’s a link to a photo of my thin, vegan, 162 lb friend. Maybe definitions of “rail thin” vary, but she’s freakin’ thin. I know her weight because we weighed in together for an athletic challenge. Since the scale was accurate for me, I know it was accurate for her. Maybe her healthy diet means her bones are denser. Maybe her athleticism makes her muscles denser. Or here’s a thought, maybe the girls you geeks *allegedly* know are lying about their weight. I have NEVER met a girl who didn’t knock at least 15 to 20 lbs off her actual weight. And the way you guys go on, who can blame them? Anyway, here’s the link:
http://i1.tinypic.com/v741u1.jpg

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