Women find themselves too fat, although they do not have a kilo too much, while men carry a belly in front of them, but see no reason to lose weight. Clichés? Yes, but with a kernel of truth, as a study by the Medical University in Katowice confirms. Women in particular were dissatisfied with their figure, reports the group around Wojciech Gruszka in the »Scientific Reports«.
The experts examined more than 700 adults, average 36 years old. They measured weight, size and waist size and calculated the body mass index (BMI), a key figure for the weight in relation to height. They also asked the participants whether they thought they were for sub, normal, overweight or obese, and let them estimate, which were most likely to be resembled from a number of silhouettes.
For men, the more overweight they were, the less the answers corresponded to reality. Those who were underweight were consistently aware that they weighed too little. Among the normal weight, at least two-thirds assessed themselves correctly. But in the case of the overweight and obese, only about half of their body size was conscious. The situation was different for women: Most overweight people knew about their body fullness, but every second normal weight person considered themselves either underweight or overweight.
"Less than two thirds of the adults really appreciated their BMI," said the group. Every second one could not identify their own figure. The tendency went towards the narrower body shape: 40 percent of the normal weight found that an underweight silhouette would best correspond to them, 36 percent of the overweight people recognized in a normal weight. Only every fourth was satisfied with their own figure - two thirds wanted to be slimmer, especially women.
Why do so many people undervalue their size?
The distorted perception could have to do with the fact that more and more people are overweight or obese, the research team explains. Compared to their environment, their figure therefore seems quite normal to those affected. In addition, the diagnosis of "overweight" seems like a stigma. The phrase "problems with weight" is more likely to be accepted.
People with eating disorders or other psychological ailments were not taken into account in the investigation. The extent to which the findings are transferable to other countries is also unclear. An older study by Trinity College in Dublin showed differences between different countries. However, she also revealed that men in particular think they are a little slimmer than they are.
But is a realistic self-assessment good at all? This is controversial. On the one hand, overweight can develop into obesity and secondary diseases if countermeasures fail to materialise due to a lack of insight. On the other hand, there are also indications that the feared cardiovascular and metabolic diseases are more likely to develop in people who are not only overweight or obese, but also perceive themselves as such.
The BMI also says nothing about how high the proportion of muscle mass is or how the fat is spread over the body. An excess of belly fat, for example, reveals more about health than the BMI. Experts therefore like to use the waist size: roughly speaking, it should not be more than 102 in men, and in women no more than 88 centimeters. Others prefer the "Waist-to-Height-ratio": the waist size divided by the body size in centimeters. In the first half of life there is an ideal ratio of up to 0.5 and in older ones of up to 0.6.
The body mass index (BMI)
It is calculated from the weight divided by the size to the square, example: 70 kg/(1.70 m) ² = 24.2. According to the World Health Organization, young adults with a BMI under 18.5 are considered underweight, from 25 as overweight and from 30 as strongly overweight. What is considered healthy also depends on gender and age: men are allowed to weigh a little more than women, older people a little more than younger ones. The ideal BMI is between 20 and 25 at the age of 30, at 60 years between 23 to 28.
