Overweight and Overwrought: Americans’ Attitudes Toward Body Size (Survey)
Are you too embarrassed to change clothes in front of others because of your body size? Do you regularly have "I feel fat" days? Join the club. Not only is there an epidemic of overweight and obesity in the United States, there is also an epidemic of feeling ashamed about it.
Related link: Twenty Habits That Make You Fat
According to a survey of over two thousand adults carried out by Yahoo! Shine and Fitness Magazine, only 37% of women are happy with their weight. Men are a little more comfortable with their current body size-45% say they are "very happy or pretty pleased" with their appearance.
The majority of adults want to lose at least 10-20 pounds and being overweight carries a psychological burden for them. About 44% of women and 38% of men believe they would be happier at their goal weight. This is especially true for younger women. Among 18-34 year-olds, 52% believe they would be happier if they were thinner, and 23% believe that their love life would improve.
Women are also more concerned about they way others see them and go to greater lengths to avoid being seen as "fat." Fifty-one percent have trashed photos of themselves because they thought they looked overweight. Only 21% of men have hit the delete button. Women are also more likely to be embarrassed about changing clothes in front of others, more likely to cut the size tags out of their clothing, and even to refuse to get on the scale at the doctor's office.
When looking at role models for boosting their self-esteem, the celebrity that most women admire is Halle Berry. About 28% of all women want to steal her body confidence. Younger women also admire Beyonce. Twenty-seven percent of 18-34 year-olds covet the singer's comfort in her own skin.
Although 89% percent of women and 77% of men say they are prone to gaining weight, for the most part, they aren't going to great lengths to lose it. Only 10% of women and 9% of men say they immediately start a diet when the scale edges upwards. The same amount of men and (more women, 12%) admit they "drown their sorrows in cookies, candy, you name it" instead cutting calories. As for battling the bulge with exercise, only 17% of women and 18% of women say that gaining weight inspires them to head to the gym.
Do you think being skinnier makes people happier? Please let us know in the comments below.
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