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82 / Health Issues Caused by Obesity
especially in people in their teens, twenties, or thirties. Overweight individ-
uals commonly think they’re defective or somehow less valuable than their
“normal-weight” peers. Such feelings, particularly if ongoing, can even esca-
late into clinical depression.
Interestingly, researchers have found that most people who are over-
weight aren’t “down” or “anxious” about their weight per se, but about diet-
ing, the pressure to diet, diet failures, and what others think. That’s a subtle,
but noteworthy distinction. It means that many people wouldn’t automati-
cally feel badly about their weight and themselves if it weren’t for the nega-
tive reactions of others. These anxieties can affect people’s lives in many
ways. For example, many people experiencing excess weight are extremely
self-conscious about eating in public. Many “normal-weight” people don’t
think twice about it.
Whether self-motivated or stemming from others’ reactions, people
struggling with excess weight often develop a negative body image. Body
image develops in response to how you perceive your physical self and the
effects these perceptions have on the way you feel about yourself. For exam-
ple, if you see your body as healthy, strong, and capable of doing many
things, you will likely feel very good about your body and have a positive
body image. (A healthy body image is also an important element in building
positive self-esteem.) If you see your body as weak, clumsy, and unattractive,
you will probably feel badly about yourself and develop a negative body
image. It is important to remember that body image is not necessarily based
on the way your body
truly
is. It is based on the way you
believe
your body is.
A person, therefore, may have an extremely healthy, strong body yet still suf-
fer from a negative body image.
Typically, overweight and obese people tend to be less accurate than people
of a “normal” weight when evaluating their own size and appearance. People
carrying excess weight generally overestimate their body size by 6 to 12 per-
cent. In short, they think they’re bigger than they actually are. This warped
self-perception may be the result of social influences that proclaim heavier
bodies to be worse, less attractive, or less valuable than thinner bodies.