Perception becomes reality?

In the July 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, there is a fascinating study that looked at teens over time. They tracked 1,728 normal weight teens over about a year, to try to figure out why some of those normal weight kids crossed over into the overweight category. In other words, they were trying to figure out what typically predicts that a teenager will become overweight.

Do you know what they found? The strongest predictors for the teens to become overweight were their self perception that they were overweight (that is, even when they were not overweight, they thought they were fat), and their attempts to diet, even when they were at a normal weight.

Folks, this is huge. This the diet mentality at work - a normal weight teen feels fat, decides to do something about it, falls into the diet mentality, and a real weight problem now begins. For some of them, they will continue to cycle like this (crash dieting, losing a little weight, then going off the diet and gaining everything plus a few pounds back). On top of it all, their relationship with food and their body will begin to take up way too much of their time and attention.

Of course, further studies need to be done - I would like to learn more about why some normal weight kids think they are fat, while others don't. I have a few suspicions, as you probably do, too. I know that studies have shown that kids model dieting behavior learned in the home - little girls as young as 8 have been heard complaining about their weight, usually because they hear their mom complain about her weight. Maybe the teens that feel fat (even though they are not fat), simply hear their mom or other relative talk about being fat a lot. Maybe they have even been warned not to eat too much because they could become fat.

This is what worries me so much about all of the attention we give to childhood obesity - yes, it is a problem, but is all of our blabber about it creating more of a problem? Are kids feeling fat because we're talking about them being fat so much? What can we do to convince normal weight kids that they are not fat and they will only make the problem worse if they try to go on a diet?