Mumbai, February 08: This may explain why even many obese individuals who want to lose weight often don’t end up doing so. A new study has claimed that obese people often feel powerless when it comes to reducing their weight. In fact, the more obese individuals are, the less they feel they will be likely to lose weight the study said.
 
The study, conducted by Monash University, Australia, relied on extensive interviews of 141 obese subjects to understand their perceptions regarding their problem and their ability to do something about it. It was found that those who were very severely obese (having a BMI over 40) tended to blame themselves for their obesity and described their condition as being at war with their bodies, said the Head of Monash University’s Consumer Health Research Group (CHaRGe) and co-author of the study, Dr Samantha Thomas.

These obese individuals did feel an urgent need to alter their health status and habits but seemed to feel completely powerless to be able to do so. Many of them nursed worries and concerns regarding their obesity, said Dr Thomas. Public health and awareness campaigns also, instead of helping them address their problem, served to make them feell blamed and ashamed, she explained.

In contrast, those who were only moderately obese, while they knew they were overweight, did not feel they needed to lose any weight to become healthier. So, while people with a BMI in the range of 30 to 40 believed in their ability to lose weight, they did not see this as an urgent priority, explained Dr Thomas. These individuals consciously tried to keep away from public health campaigns that talked about obesity to avoid the stigma associated with the disorder. In fact, they tended to stigmatize those fatter, said Dr Thomas.

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Tags: Obesity, lose weight

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