A systematic review of the relationship between weight status perceptions and weight loss attempts, strategies, behaviours and outcomes

Abstract

SummaryIt is commonly assumed that a person identifying that they are ‘overweight’ is an important prerequisite to successful weight management. However, there has been no systematic evaluation of evidence supporting this proposition. The aim of the present research was to systematically review evidence on the relationship between perceived overweight and (i) weight loss attempts, (ii) weight control strategies (healthy and unhealthy), (iii) weight‐related behaviours (physical activity and eating habits), (iv) disordered eating and (v) weight change. We synthesized evidence from 78 eligible studies and evaluated evidence linking perceived overweight with outcome variables separately according to the gender, age and objective weight status of study participants. Results indicated that perceived overweight was associated with an increased likelihood of attempting weight loss and with healthy and unhealthy weight control strategies in some participant groups. However, perceived overweight was not reliably associated with physical activity or healthy eating and was associated with greater disordered eating in some groups. Rather than being associated with improved weight management, there was consistent evidence that perceived overweight was predictive of increased weight gain over time. Individuals who perceive their weight status as overweight are more likely to report attempting weight loss but over time gain more weight.

Weight Perception, Weight Stigma Concerns, and Overeating

“…Individuals who perceive their weight status as overweight are more likely to overeat and gain more weight than those who do not perceive their weight status as overweight (4,7). We hypothesized that heightened weight stigma concerns because of the widespread stigma associated with larger body sizes (8,9) explain why individuals who perceive their weight status as overweight are at an increased risk of overeating relative to those who perceive their weight as "about right."…”

“…Individuals who perceive their weight status as overweight are more likely to overeat and gain more weight than those who do not perceive their weight status as overweight . We hypothesized that heightened weight stigma concerns because of the widespread stigma associated with larger body sizes explain why individuals who perceive their weight status as overweight are at an increased risk of overeating relative to those who perceive their weight as “about right.” Across two studies of United States adults, we found that weight stigma concerns partly explained the cross‐sectional relationship between self‐perceived overweight (relative to perceiving one's weight as about right) and self‐reported overeating tendencies.…”

A systematic review on biomechanical characteristics of walking in children and adolescents with overweight/obesity: Possible implications for the development of musculoskeletal disorders

“…The quality assessment of the selected studies was conducted with The Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tool for Systematic Reviews (Table S2) as used by previous authors . This tool was specifically designed to assess quality in cross‐sectional studies and consists of eight items, each of them with three possible answers as follows: “yes” (criterion met), “no” (criterion not met), and “not applicable.” While potentially ambiguous due to unequal weightings between criteria, a total quality score was calculated for each study to provide a general indication of quality.…”

The psychological characteristics of people consuming vegetarian, vegan, paleo, gluten free and weight loss dietary patterns

“…Dieting for weight loss has attracted significant research attention because of the growing number of people around the world who are overweight or have obesity . Across the last 40 years, evidence has accumulated suggesting that unsupervised weight loss dieting contributes to increased weight gain, poorer psychological health and, in some cases, disordered eating . However, there has been less research exploring psychological factors associated with other kinds of restrictive dietary patterns.…”