Brits In Denial About Their Weight Fate
Overweight Brits are in denial about their weight and continue to eat an unhealthy diet despite health warnings about obesity, according to new research by weight loss aid alli.
One in five (20%) overweight people questioned in Britain said they have never tried to lose their excess weight at all. Overweight and obese people blamed their excessive weight on eating too much (54%), eating the wrong foods (49%) and snacking (46%).
The survey of 8,500 overweight and obese people across Europe coincides with the launch of European Obesity Day’s ‘Stop Yo Yo’ campaign on May 21st.
Further results from the research revealed that almost half (45%) of British people with a BMI of 28-29.9 have been trying to lose weight for less than 6 months.
Dubbed the ‘weight loss deniers’, they were also the least likely of those surveyed to have spoken to, or be planning to speak to, a healthcare professional about their weight.[2]
Serial dieters (BMI 30+)
Results showed that as people’s BMI increases they become less likely to sustain their weight loss: 76% of British women in the BMI 30-35.9 group had lost weight but subsequently regained it, and this figure rose to 77% in the group with BMI 36+.
By the time people find themselves in these higher BMI groups they have been stuck in an unsuccessful ‘weight loss trap’ for longer: 45% of people in the BMI group 36+ had been trying to lose weight for over 6 years.
The research also suggests that years of unsuccessful weight loss attempts can also have a negative psychological impact, and by the time people reach BMI 36+ many feel ‘blamed and shamed’ about their weight by both society and themselves:
- 50% say people are quick to judge them on the way they look
- A third (33%) resort to ‘eating to help themselves feel better’
- By this stage over a third (35%) have spent 10 years or more trying to lose weight
- 21% are worried people look at them when they’re eating and 10% eat healthy foods in front of people
Holly Turner, UK Brand Director for alli, said of the findings; "We undertook this research to gain a better understanding of the barriers that are preventing people from losing weight and maintaining their weight loss over the long term, and it seems that the bigger the problem, the harder people find it to tackle successfully."