Our blog

Controlling your weight is one of the best things you can do to lower your health risk. However, a new study shows that your perception of the size of your body may be getting in the way.

 

 

You rely on your brain to give you accurate information about the world and yourself. But what happens when this perception is distorted? A new study highlights the importance of weight control in lowering your health risk. But it also unveils a problem in the way you perceive yourself that could be undermining your efforts. So, if you’re struggling to lose weight and improve your health, here’s what you need to know.

 

The Importance of Weight Control

Controlling your weight is absolutely essential for your health over the long and short term. Studies have shown that even a small amount of excess weight can have devastating effects on your health. Obesity and excess weight can increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol. It can also cause pain and discomfort throughout your body. These problems will damage your health by increasing your stress levels.

 

However, losing weight isn’t always easy. There are several barriers that can hinder your efforts including:

 

 

 

• Medical issues.
• Fatigue.
• Lack of time.
• Eating high calorie foods.
• Stress.
• Irregular or long work hours.
• Lack of motivation.
• Lack of support.

 

It can be hard enough to push past these barriers and lose weight. And a study on perception may suggest a new barrier that you’ve probably never noticed.

 

Studying Perception

A recent study was performed in Western Australia to determine problems with perception. The study enrolled 103 young women who were asked to look at 71 pictures of women of varying body sizes. The participants were asked to judge the size of the women pictured ranging from underweight to obese. What the researchers found was astonishing and worrying for your weight control efforts. They found that women judged each body size by the previous image they’d seen. So, if they saw an image of a women of a healthy weight, they would categorize the next image the same way. This applied even if the woman in the second image was overweight.

 

This study shows that what your brain tells you isn’t always accurate. You’ve probably noticed this before, but the nature of these mistakes may run deeper than you realize. Your brain may be tricking you into thinking your body is smaller than it is. And this could derail your motivation for weight control and allow this health risk to increase.

 

This misperception can occur both ways. You may think that you’re thinner than you are, which lowers your motivation for weight loss. But in some people, it may lead to them thinking they’re bigger then they are. This could be one of the mechanisms behind eating disorders and other body image problems.

 

Overcoming Your Perception

There’s no known way to overcome this brain bias because you can’t order your brain to see things clearly. The only thing you can do is to evaluate this health risk as objectively as possible. This means taking the following measurements:

 

• Weigh yourself and compare it against your height in centimeters squared to see if you’re in the healthy range.

 

• Take measurements of the width of different parts of your body including your weight and hips.

 

• Have your body fat distribution measured using hydrostatic weighing, where you’re dunked under water.

 

Gathering all this data will give you a more objective view of your body. And with that view, you will be better equipped to address this health risk.

 

The Takeaway

Losing weight isn’t always easy, and there are always barriers in the way. It isn’t possible to remove or even reduce all these barriers. However, by becoming aware of them, you can hopefully lower the negative effects they have on your weight control efforts. Gathering objective data like this will also give you a good base for your weight loss efforts. So, if you notice changes in your measurements during self-monitoring, it may be a sign of a problem. And that would be true even if your brain doesn’t perceive a problematic change.

 

 

 

If you’re concerned about a health risk, try using HomeLab to keep track of your condition and any preventative measures you take. And if you see signs of a significant problem, you should check with your doctor as soon as possible.

 

 

Tags: Health risk, weight control