Adherence
Experiencing weight-based stigma is associated with increased use of maladaptive coping strategies, specifically eating more food, which may perpetuate weight gain and obesity.
If you experience weight stigma, be aware that eating more is a very common way people cope with that stress. This is not a moral failing but a learned response. To manage weight, consider developing alternative coping strategies for dealing with bias, such as positive self-talk or seeking social support, which were also reported but less frequently linked to weight gain.
It is important to note that a frequent coping strategy reported by participants to deal with stigma was eating more food. Seventy-nine percent of the total sample reported using this strategy more than once or multiple times... Closer examination indicated that this coping response was reported among the top five most frequent coping responses to deal with stigma in each category of weight from normal weight to obese category III.
Why this rating
Large sample size (N=2449 women, N=222 matched) and robust statistical correlations, though observational.
Source
Confronting and Coping with Weight Stigma: An Investigation of Overweight and Obese Adults
Rebecca M. Puhl et al. · Obesity · 2006
DOI 10.1038/oby.2006.208
More from this paper
- Higher BMI is associated with a higher frequency of experiencing weight stigma, particularly from family members.Good
- Coping strategies such as positive self-talk and seeking social support are associated with better psychological outcomes (higher self-esteem, lower depression) in response to weight stigma.Good
Related findings · Adherence
- Regular physical activity (at least 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity) reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality by 20-30% and lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes by 25-35%.Strong
- Increasing physical activity from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one in middle adulthood significantly reduces the risk of coronary events compared to remaining sedentary.Strong
- Resistance exercise is the only intervention capable of consistently restoring muscle function and strength in sarcopenia, partially overcoming age-related anabolic resistance.Strong
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