‘Tough love’ may prevent obese people from exercising!
April 22nd, 2011 - 6:43 pm ICT by ANIResearchers from the University of New South Wales surveyed 111 obese adult men and women about weight discrimination and how it influenced their motivation to
exercise.
They found that using a “tough love” approach of teasing an overweight loved one just makes them less likely to exercise.
“This idea that we can use a tough love approach, it just doesn’t seem to work”, said lead author Lenny Vartanian.
“In fact it appears to backfire, making people less likely to exercise”, he added.
One reason for this could be the embarrassment felt by overweight people when others “stare, laugh or make negative comments”, the Courier Mail quoted him as saying.
Nearly half of the people surveyed, reported experiencing some form of weight stigma at least once a week. It ranges from hearing negative comments or missing out on a
job because of their weight.
Respondents also said that the most hurtful comments usually came from spouses, family members and doctors.
Vartanian suggested that public policy should focus on curbing discrimination against fat people.
“We have certain policies in place to guard against all those groups who have been historically marginalized, whether due to race or religion,” he added.
“Fat stigma is really the last remaining acceptable form of discrimination”, said Vartanian.
The study is published in the journal Obesity. (ANI)
- Shaming obese people can backfire - May 04, 2011
- Labelling people as obese acts as a slur - Dec 14, 2010
- Obese targeted at workplace - Sep 27, 2011
- Infants of obese mothers slow developers - Aug 07, 2012
- Negative attitudes toward overweight people going global - Mar 29, 2011
- Talking about weight might give kids eating disorder - Jul 02, 2012
- Stigma against fat people becoming global - Mar 29, 2011
- Older obese kids eat less than healthy peers - Sep 10, 2012
- Minimising fat with more exercise easy way to shed weight - May 07, 2012
- Exercise can undo effects of maternal obesity - Feb 10, 2012
- Recession beats dieting, gym in slimming people - Mar 04, 2012
- Weight Watchers' members lose twice as many kilos - Sep 08, 2011
- Found! Hormone that makes you pile on pounds - Oct 16, 2011
- Fat people can't get slim - Jul 25, 2011
- Daily cup of coffee adds 4.5 kg to weight annually - Aug 21, 2012
Tags: adult men, courier mail, doctors, embarrassment, family members, hurtful comments, men and women, motivation, negative comments, new south wales, obesity, overweight people, public policy, religion, respondents, stigma, tough love, university of new south wales, vartanian, weight discrimination