Public Opinion and Weight Action About Diet Nutrition and Physical Activity - Many Americans Deny Being Overweight

When Size USA participants were asked how they perceived their weight, more than half of the men (51%) and 38% of women described themselves as at "about the right weight." Just 10% of men and 21% of women said they were "quite a bit overweight."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that about two-thirds of Americans are overweight and almost a third are obese, but Gallup Poll data collected in 2005 indicates that Americans may be in denial about their overweight. Nearly half (45%) of participants in a January 2005 Gallup Poll described themselves as "somewhat overweight," and 8% said they were "very overweight," and 41% described their weight as "about right." (See Figure 11.5.)

More than half of women (56%), compared with 50% of men, judged themselves at least "somewhat overweight". The percentage of women considering themselves very overweight accounts for the difference, 11% FIGURE 11.5 Individuals' assessments of whether they are underweight, overweight, or about right, 2005 Rick Blizzard, "Please Describe Your Own Personal Weight Situation Right Now," in Obesity Epidemic: Are Americans in Denial? The Gallup Organization, May 24, 2005, http://poll.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci=16453&pg=1 (accessed January 14, 2006). Copyright • 2005 by The Gallup Organization. Reproduced by permission of The Gallup Organization.FIGURE 11.6 Individuals' assessments of whether they are underweight, overweight, or about right, by self-defined health status, 2005 Rick Blizzard, "Self-Defined Personal Weight Situation, by Age," in Obesity Epidemic: Are Americans in Denial? The Gallup Organization, May 24, 2005, http://poll.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci=16453&pg_1 (accessed January 14, 2006). Copyright © 2005 by The Gallup Organization. Reproduced by permission of The Gallup Organization.FIGURE 11.7 Individuals' assessments of whether they are underweight, overweight, or about right, by self-defined health status, 2005 Rick Blizzard, "Self-Defined Personal Weight, by Self-Defined Health Status," in Obesity Epidemic: Are Americans in Denial? The Gallup Organization, May 24, 2005, http://poll.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci=16453&pg=1 (accessed January 14, 2006). Copyright © 2005 by The Gallup Organization. Reproduced by permission of The Gallup Organization.of women saw themselves as this overweight, compared with 5% of men. In addition, self-assessment of weight varies by age. About one-third (34%) of eighteen- to twenty-nine-year-olds identified themselves as overweight in 2005, compared with more than half (54%) of thirty- to forty-nine-year-olds, and nearly two-thirds (64%) of fifty- to sixty-four-year-olds. Just over half of adults aged sixty-five and older (53%) said they were somewhat or very overweight. (See Figure 11.6.)

Americans who considered themselves "somewhat" or "very overweight" were more likely to rate their health as "fair" or "poor" in 2005 than those who thought their weight was about right. Of those who believed their personal physical health was either "fair" or "poor," 52% said they were "somewhat overweight" and 18% said they were "very overweight." Among those who considered their health "excellent" or "good," 44% said they were "somewhat overweight" and 7% said they were "very overweight." (See Figure 11.7.)