Too fat, too thin or in the normal range? When asked this question, many people misjudge their own body weight. This is shown by a study with 744 adults in Poland. Just under two-thirds of those surveyed classified themselves in the correct weight category and less than half correctly identified a body silhouette that corresponded to their own figure. Men in particular tended to think they were slimmer than they are. Only every fourth test person was satisfied with their own body measurements. Women in particular often wished for a slimmer figure.
Many people who suffer from eating disorders such as anorexia have a disturbed body image. They often think they are fatter than they are. But even in people with eating habits that are not pathological, the perception of their own body can differ from reality. From a psychological point of view, this can be a health risk: those who mistakenly think they are overweight have an increased risk of developing an eating disorder. On the other hand, those who do not recognize that they are overweight or obese are less likely to strive for healthy weight loss.
Lots of misjudgments
A team led by Wojciech Gruszka from the Silesian Medical University of Katowice in Poland surveyed 744 Polish adults on how well they can assess their own body dimensions and how satisfied they are with their figure. The participants were on average 36 years old, 60.7 percent were women. The surveys took place between 2010 and 2011. “In order to record how the test subjects assessed their own weight, we first asked them whether they considered themselves to be underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese,” the researchers explain. They then measured and weighed the participants and calculated their body mass index (BMI). According to the categories of the World Health Organization (WHO), they rated a BMI below 18.5 as underweight, 18.5 to 24.9 as normal weight, 25 to 29.9 as overweight and a BMI over 30 as obese.
The result: “Only 63.5 percent of those surveyed matched the self-assessment with the actual weight category,” the researchers report. 17.6 percent of normal-weight people considered themselves underweight, 14.3 percent overweight, and 0.5 percent obese. Of those who were overweight, 30.8 percent thought they were of normal weight, 1.4 percent thought they were underweight, and 2.8 percent thought they were obese. The largest proportion of misjudgments was among the obese: 41.6 percent of them classified themselves as overweight instead of obese. “Self-diagnosing obesity is very distressing, so patients with obesity prefer to identify themselves as overweight,” the authors write.
Different body image
The results were even clearer when the authors did not assess the body of the participants verbally, but based on pictures. They showed them a series of nine human silhouettes, ranging from very thin to very fat, and asked them to name the silhouette that they felt most closely resembled their own body shape. Here, just under half of the participants chose the objectively appropriate body shape. In most cases, they opted for a thinner silhouette. Both in terms of verbal and visual classification, men were much more likely than women to believe they were slimmer than they are.
From the authors’ point of view, one explanation for the tendency to assess oneself as slimmer than one is could be that obesity is increasing in the population in general and is therefore perceived as “normal”. Anyone who compares themselves with people in their own environment can therefore come to the conclusion that they are relatively slim – even if their own weight is too high according to objective criteria.
Dissatisfied with their own figure
In order to also find out how satisfied the participants are with their bodies, the researchers also asked which of the silhouettes shown they would like to have. Only every fourth test person chose the silhouette that he had previously named as his own body shape. Two thirds of the participants, mainly women, wanted a slimmer body shape, around nine percent a stronger one.
From the authors’ point of view, dissatisfaction with one’s own character can be both an opportunity and a risk. “Dissatisfaction with one’s own body is an important risk factor for depressive symptoms, especially in women,” the authors explain. On the other hand, the desire to lose weight is an important starting point for a healthier diet, especially in the case of overweight and obese people. Those who consider themselves to be of normal weight despite being massively overweight are therefore less willing to change their lifestyle. “Further studies should clarify to what extent psychotherapy can help to perceive one’s own body more realistically and to keep one’s own weight under better control,” say the authors.
Source: Wojciech Gruszka (Silesian Medical University of Katowice, Poland) et al., Scientific Reports, doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-04706-6