they look for reasons and excuses for their condition as a way of justifying it

A researcher from Warwick University recently conducted some research with 35 obese men and women who were asking for weight loss surgery in UK hospitals. The purpose of the research was to establish the reasons that obese people give for their weight problems.

What is clear from her research is that men and women never give the reason for being obese as simply that they eat too much but try to justify their eating habits some other way. Among other reasons given by the obese patients were friends who eat too much and don’t put on weight, being unhappy, being happy and even that when they were young they were always told to finish everything in front of them.

The reasons for overeating fell into three main categories. Firstly obese people said that they must have inherited a “fat gene”. The second group tended to say that they had childhood psychological problems which meant that they associated food with rewards or that they just felt guilty about leaving food on their plate. The third group of people said that they ate too much to take away the pain of stressful and unhappy situations like the death of a family member or a break up of a relationship.

According to Ms Throsby because of the stigma and embarrassment that obese people experience they look for reasons and excuses for their condition as a way of justifying it. She went on to say that obese people somehow feel that they need to justify their weight problem to their friends and families and give a good reason why they have put on weight and that they are not content to simply say that they have failed in their diets.

At Ukmedix News we have seen that obesity is a psychological problem as well as a physical problem and it requires an honest appraisal of your situation and a determination to lose weight and to maintain a slim figure.