ted12345

you ether agree with the comments that obese people are NEVER popular attractive or have a life or you dont, How confusing is that??? Stick with societys negative views or just take people for what they are with out being so judgemental.

<TABLE width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>The social and psychological consequences of obesi </TD></TR><TR><TD>Our society has a very negative view of overweight and obesity. Research evidence of stigma and discrimination agrees with the public values and attitudes commonly expressed by the media. They tell us that being fat is an extremely unattractive and undesirable way to be, indeed, that it is a state to be avoided at all costs. This hostility towards fatness has been compared with other common social prejudices, and the striking conclusion drawn that anti-fat attitudes are at the stage that racism was some 50 years ago; namely, that anti-fat attitudes are overt, expressible and widely held. The perception of obesity This derogatory view of obesity is not new. Some of the earliest research, published in the 1960s, examined children’s attitudes, presumably because they openly reflect prevailing adult opinion. In one of these studies 10- and 11-year old children were presented with six line drawings of a child as physically normal and with each of five physical disabilities, one being overweight. Ranking the figures by asking which they liked best resulted in a robust order of preference, with the normal child at the top, and the overweight child at the bottom, below that of a child with facial disfigurement, in leg brace and crutches, or in a wheelchair. In a second study children were asked to assign 39 adjectives to one of three silhouette drawings depicting a thin, a muscular, and a fat body shape. The obese body shape was least frequently assigned ‘best friend’, most frequently ‘gets teased’, and labelled ‘lazy, dirty, stupid, ugly, liar and cheat’ more often than the other body shapes. Subsequent research has confirmed both this order of preference and these perceived negative character traits, broadly describing the obese stereotype as greedy, lazy, of lower intelligence, and socially isolated. It also suggests that the negative response has increased rather than relaxed as might be expected given the increasing levels and public face of obesity. These two studies are important since they describe two principal features of the stigma of overweight. On one hand is the stigmatisation of bodily appearance; obesity is a highly visible but undesirable state. On the other, is the stigmatization of character; the moral view that holds the obese personally responsible for their own state and so blames them for their fatness. Further research with children has extended this characterisation and shows that even pre-adolescents have incorporated the message of poor health, fitness and eating habits in their attributions of overweight. Likewise, there are social class variations in these negative views, with the least favourable attitudes more likely to be expressed by children from higher social class backgrounds. During adolescence overweight may be an important determinant of social experience. Overweight adolescents, for example, receive fewer friendship nominations than lean peers and are less likely to be named as a friend by people they nominate. In addition, teenagers express discomfort with dating overweight peers, something particularly strongly expressed by boys. This confirmation of overweight as unattractive, unhealthy, and least acceptable in affluent social circles goes some way to explaining the high levels of body shape dissatisfactions and dieting in pre-adolescent and teenage girls. </TD><TD> </TD></TR><TR><TD> Download File </TD><TD> </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>Obesity and psychological health </TD></TR><TR><TD>Given the above catalogue of stigmatisation, a state of poor psychological health would be expected for all obese individuals. However, this is not the case. The variation in psychological adjustment among the obese is broadly comparable to that in the population at large. And there is certainly no major psychiatric disorder or specific personality disorder associated preferentially with obesity. However, there is an emerging literature linking obesity with depression. In one study, for example, over 40,000 adults were given a structured interview including an assessment of anxiety and depression as part of a National Alcohol Survey. Obesity was associated with a 37% increased risk of major depression in women but a 37% decreased risk of depression in men. There was a similar association between obesity, gender and suicide attempts – obese women at increased risk, obese men at decreased risk. Furthermore, although the association between female obesity and depression was rather modest in epidemiological terms, the researchers had controlled for depression co-occurring with physical illness or bereavement. When these were included the association between obesity and past-year depression further strengthened. In another large scale community survey in the US, obesity was significantly associated with past-month depression in women (odds ratio = 1.82) but not in men. Furthermore, there is longitudinal evidence that in people aged over 50, obesity increases the risk of developing depression. The relationship between obesity and self-esteem is not clear-cut either. In adults, obesity is associated with a modest reduction in self-esteem, sometimes limited only to those with morbid obesity. In pre-adolescent children, obesity has little or no impact on global self-esteem. In teenagers, self-perceived overweight is more closely associated with reduced self-esteem than is actual overweight. Similarly, this relationship is stronger in females than in males. Body esteem, or satisfaction with appearance, is the domain of self-worth most affected by obesity. This is especially true for obese adolescents and young women whose sense of identity is greatly dependent on appearance and in whom some show very high levels of body dissatisfaction. Again, body dissatisfaction may be more strongly associated with perceived overweight and depression, than with actual weight. Therapy aimed at improving body image in obese women has shown some success in relieving negative psychological symptoms but has little impact on body weight. Further studies of large representative samples using established measures of health-related quality of life have helped separate physical functioning from psychological health, while showing their inter-dependence. Age is an important moderator of the relationship between obesity and well-being. Overweight and obese women in their late teens and early twenties score significantly lower in physical functioning, vitality and general health, but show few differences on any of the main psychological health measures. The pattern for middle-aged women (45-49) is different. First, there are proportionately more overweight and obese women in this age group. Second, these older obese women score significantly lower than those of average weight on all the physical and psychological health scales. Most of the available evidence shows the greatest deficits are in the severely or morbidly obese (BMI>40). Scores on the psychological health scales for the moderately obese (BMI 30-40) show similarity to those who are underweight (BMI<20), whereas overweight women show similarity to normal weight individuals. It is also important to take account of the co-occurrence of chronic illness. In one study, people with obesity plus other chronic health conditions (around half the obese) reported particularly poor physical and psychological health. Since this was most apparent in those with 3 or more chronic conditions it identifies an especially vulnerable group. It is also notable that among groups of people with similar levels of chronic illness, the additional presence of obesity was associated with a significant deterioration in physical but not emotional well-being. This means that past assessments of psychological well-being may have been confounded by physical health problems. It also shows that obese individuals with pain or co-occurring chronic illnesses are most at risk of psychological distress. </TD><TD> </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>Binge-eating disorder </TD></TR><TR><TD>Binge eating is one clinical problem that does appear to be more prevalent in the obese, at least in those entering weight loss programmes. The recently described syndrome of ‘binge eating disorder’ (binge eating without purging by vomiting or other means) has been described in 30% of patients attending US weight loss clinics. The use of strict diagnostic criteria reduces this to well below 20%. In community samples, BED is much less common, apparent in only 1-3% of respondents. Overall, the prevalence of BED in any group increases with increasing obesity. Interestingly, up to half describe their binge eating as preceding their obesity, rather than arising as a consequence of extreme dieting, the pattern most commonly found in bulimia nervosa. Attitudes of health professionals Given what has been written above it should be no surprise that the attitudes and beliefs of health professionals reflect those of the wider community. Thus research shows that doctors and medical students are likely to share the moralistic view that obese people are weak-willed, ugly, less competent and likeable, and less likely to benefit from counselling. Bias has also been observed in nurses and nursing students, nutritionists and psychologists. Even health professionals who specialise in obesity show anti-fat biases. They mask overtly negative responses but measures of implicit attitudes reveal the culturally prevalent stereotyping. One important question is whether professionals’ views of overweight have consequences for the medical process. Some time ago it was noted that doctors were more likely to note a weight problem and recommend a treatment programme for women than men. More recently, obese women were found more likely to be misclassified as having coronary heart disease than non-obese women. In addition, the prescribing of lipid lowering medication by British general practitioners has been found less likely in overweight people, with doctors explicitly stating this as their policy. However, the most apparent consequence is the reluctance of obese individuals to seek medical care. This is not restricted to consultations about weight loss but has been observed in decreased use by obese women of preventive health care services such as breast screening. This reluctance could be because obese individuals are aware of the negative attitudes of medical professionals towards people such as themselves. It also may be the result of body self-consciousness, or past experience of health professionals attributing health problems to the obesity. Additionally, doctors may be disinterested in managing overweight patients, in part based on their perceived futility in bringing about weight loss in a group with little presumed will-power. </TD><TD> </TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>The effects of weight change </TD></TR><TR><TD>The effects of weight loss on improving feelings of well-being and self-esteem have been reported many times. This may be especially marked when some form of physical exercise or activity has been part of the weight loss strategy. Indeed, relatively modest reductions in weight can improve general psychological health. However, the mixture of individuals who enter a weight control programme will experience a mixture of psychological repercussions. These will include, pride in their success and a feeling of mastery, annoyance at the difficulties in adjusting their routine to ensure weight loss, despair at apparent failure, and anger and frustration at the effort that has to be expended. Significant and sustained weight loss is not easy for the great majority to achieve. Weight regain is usually associated with loss of psychological gains, although one study at least has shown the psychological benefits of weight loss to remain with full weight regain. The relationship between weight loss and mood is a complicated one and an issue that is not limited to obesity. Of relevance here though is the observation that greater and faster weight losses are associated with poorer mood outcomes. Specifically, nearly half of the studies with a mean weight loss of greater than 9 kg (20 lb) have reported aversive mood consequences. In contrast, there are none in those with smaller weight losses. A related issue is that of weight cycling, or the phenomenon of repeatedly losing and regaining weight, noted as frequent in both overweight and non-overweight individuals. The very few studies that have examined the psychological consequences are consistent in showing that those with a history of weight cycling have significantly more psychological problems, lower levels of satisfaction with life, and more eating disorder symptoms than those who are weight stable. In addition, obese binge eaters have been found to have more past weight cycling episodes than obese non-binge eaters. However, the research cannot yet distinguish whether it is the weight cycling that causes these psychological problems, whether the problems themselves lead to intensified dieting but weight regain, or that weight cycling and psychological problems are correlated but not causally related. Attempts to identify psychological predictors of weight loss have not met with great success. As the preceding account implies, the presence of depression, anxiety or binge eating is associated with poorer weight loss, although again findings are inconsistent. Similarly, summary measures of readiness to change or motivation to lose weight have generally failed to predict outcome. In contrast, self-efficacy – a person’s evaluation of whether s/he can perform the behaviours required for weight loss – is a modest but consistent predictor of success. The need for change Obesity can have devastating psychosocial consequences. However, the mechanisms to impaired psychological health are different from those to physical illness. Two prominent researchers in the field, Stunkard and Sobal make the point very bluntly: ".... obesity does not create a psychological burden. Obesity is a physical state. People create the psychological burden." Changing people's attitudes and thus those of society will not be easy. But the analogy with racism could be used as a starting point for identifying those strategies that have been most successful in the past, and by learning from their outcome. The combination of education, science, good practice, changes in legislation, and a promotion of tolerance, are all necessary to meet this goal. The inclusion of psychological well-being as an obesity treatment goal, the activities of patient support groups, the development of training packages for health professionals, prosecutions for false weight loss product claims by trading standards officers, and test cases for discrimination under employment law would all be steps in the right direction. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

May be i have been very lucky in life and my weight has never effected my pulling power or made me less attractive to other people. Even with Sever dyslexia i have been very succesfull in busness also and i guess my personailty has got me threw. Ya know what the more i think about it what sad miserable lives obese people do have if they are never popular or cant find a partner or do fun things with the friends (if they have any) or children (if they have any because they are too big to to get a partner to have em!) Guess i am a exception to the rule

no no no this was all on another forum and i just wanted to ask do Big people have this general view that Big people are NEVER popular or get dates. i know personally i have never had any probs. I agree with what others said if your low in self esteem you will be miserable and negative and thats not a attractive feture. But Being Obese does not automatically make you unnatractive or unpopular.

My spelling and typing is horrendus due to sever dyslexia. i appologise for that i find this hard enough as it is so i know were your coming from. Right lets start again. I am two years banded really struggling. and wonderd if the years of o yo dieting made weight loss harder. so thats simple enough yeah? (there is history with the person who replied) But the reply to my question really does i feel insinuate that obese people Are NEVER popular or get dates or havelifes. I find that opinion of Big people in general offencive, i personally feel there is a difference between low self esteem and what sociaty makes you feel and with opinions like that no wonder some of us feel like that. I personally dont think Obese people are less atractive or popular and i know big people can lead full lives. I dont think obese people needs empty sympathy from people who view us so negetivly.

of course bloody english is my first language I AM ENGLISH!! I read the reply to insiuate that Obese people are NEVER popular get dtaes (meaning there unnatractive) or have a life IE they dont ride horses or run bloody marathons. for gods sake i have three kids one has ADHD i run abloody marathon every day just getting them ready for school. I have a stunning hunky hubby and i welth of friends. I cant see why the reply would invole these issues if they did not see them as issues. How do they have any relovence to the question? Do you reconise the person who wrote the responce?

sorry my mistake Was you a big baby and a chubby child then a over weight adult? Or was you always very slim untill you reached a certain age or had a baby or something along those lines? I have had a lifetime of weight issues i am finding it harder and harder to lose the weight. It it true yo yo dieting can mess your body up and effect the weight loss prosess? The above was my origional question, I was a healthy attractive athlete until my mid 40's. I developed Type 2 diabetes and things exploded after that in huge weight gains that I did not monitor. By the time I had Band surgery in 2005 I was 58. My brain remembered the good old days, so I started behaving like that again. The weight peeled off. I started by training and completing a half marathon. Now, after plastic surgery, my old self is coming back. I still have more surgeries and work to do, but I'm now on a positive roll that will not quit. My heart breaks over obese people who have NEVER been popular, had lots of dates, rode a horse, ran a marathon, etc. It's never too late to learn and go on. That was the reply, I feel OUT OF CONTEXT i asked if yo yo dieting made weight loss harder. The person who replied was on about how fab they was and how so call heartbroken they feel or unattractive unpopular no life obese people. I was posing a question as to wether years of serious obesity and life time diets (yo yo) dieting can effect the ability to lose weight. So i was trying to find out the differnece between people who were always slim and peeps who have always struggled. Most of us n general can lose weight only we reagain it. And this happens over and over again. But if you have been slim all your life then suddenly gain weight what changes to make you gain weight? and how hard is it loseing is it as just as hard as us people who have struggled all our lifes who do generally just find it harder and harder? Does yo yo dieting effect the ability to lose weight.

lisa the question origionally asked was not about self esteem while itotaly agree with what you say. The origional question was does years of yo yo dieting effect the ability to lose weight? kinda like if you have been big all your life fighing the fat does it just get harder and harder to lose weight. does yo yo dieting effect the matabolism and the ability to lose weight. The responce was kina out of context didnt really answer the question other than they was always "slim athletic and attractive" untill later life. The reply emphosized on NEVER being poular or getting dates or having a life. i mean they bare no referrence to the question of matabolism ? and again there is a difference about how we persive our selfs and how others persive us. As sociaty does mock the big and assumes that because some one is slim they are more attractive and popular and more likely to have successful life. I BEG TO DIFFER

The origional question was from ME i asked about yo yo dieting, so i know what i meant The reply was a shock as it bares little reference to the actual question, The questuion was about a lifetime struggle and does yo yo dieting effect the ability to lose weight.

ahhh but this is not the perspective of how we feel about our selfs, This is odviously how the poster see's obese people? surly it is beacuse how can they make such a statement if there life has never been one of obesity? I feel there is a differnece about self esteem and its effects and wether does obesity actually mean that you are less attractive and NEVER popular or cant get dates and have a life. I feel as a big girl i am farly attractive and i have a abundence of friends and often begging for forgivemess because i cant fit them all in. To a certain extenct weight has stopped me doing certain things but more my "mental state" and how i feel rather than the actual weight being the limitation. untill it began to impact on my health. This is not a opinion from a self expression this is a opinion of obese people. emphasis is put on populariety. Again we all agree that its more self esteem and self impression that leads to attractiveness and populariety not the actual weight!

Was you a big baby and a chubby child then a over weight adult? Or was you always very slim untill you reached a certain age or had a baby or something along those lines? I have had a lifetime of weight issues i am finding it harder and harder to lose the weight. It it true yo yo dieting can mess your body up and effect the weight loss prosess? That was the question posed. I feel it bares no question on Attractiveness, It was more about could or would people find it harder to lose weight who have messed up motabolisms due to years of bottleing the weight and yo yo dieting. I felt the respnce was out of context and that may be how i read it my way and i found the comments offencive. There are social problems due to weight and i feel with opinions like that is it any wonder. untill there for the grace of god go i and it happens to you.

How can they experience it? they didnt live a life of obesity?

<TABLE class=ThmBgStandard cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=10 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>I was a healthy attractive athlete until my mid 40's. I developed Type 2 diabetes and things exploded after that in huge weight gains that I did not monitor. By the time I had Band surgery in 2005 I was 58. My brain remembered the good old days, so I started behaving like that again. The weight peeled off. I started by training and completing a half marathon. Now, after plastic surgery, my old self is coming back. I still have more surgeries and work to do, but I'm now on a positive roll that will not quit. My heart breaks over obese people who have NEVER been popular, had lots of dates, rode a horse, ran a marathon, etc. It's never too late to learn and go on. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> Just i came across this i found it offencive, May be i read into it to much but to me i read that Obese people are unatractive cant or dont gets dates. dont have lifes and that the poster didnt have a lifetime battle with there weight so in my opinion WLS was very much a first rather than last option, Were as MOST of us who are big try every other available method of weight loss before resorting on surgery. The person who posted that didnt try anything just gained weight and had surgery to fix it. And while they claim to be heart broken for obese people they have some very derogotary opinions of obese people. Thats how i read it. I feel there is a huge difference between suffering a lifetime of true obesity and just gaineing a few lb's in later life. We all hear that years of yo yo dieting can mess up your matabolism. So may be the person who posted that found there banding jurney fairly easy because there matabolism had not been shot to peices like most of us who have tried basically everything else all our lifes.