Overweight Women in Australia Have 'surrendered to Obesity'

A new survey has revealed that 35 per cent of Australian women, who consider themselves to be overweight, do not have any urge to lose weight.

The Newspoll survey, conducted for international company Weight Watchers, has also shown that these women have not tried to lose weight in the previous one year.

The company, which offers various dieting products and services to assist weight loss and maintenance, says that overweight women’s denial to losing weight is partially due to the fact that the term “fat” has become politically incorrect.

"For a start, language has changed and it is no longer politically correct to use the word 'fat'. Instead, we use terms like obese, which are easy to disengage from for most people who consider themselves not too heavy,” theage.com.au quoted Weight Watchers general manager Sarah Verne as saying.

"People are starting to think that being overweight is normal and therefore acceptable and not something they need be concerned about," she added.

Verne also blames reality television programs like ‘The Biggest Loser’, which pits obese people against each other in a battle to shed the most kilograms, for overweight women’s disinterest in weight loss.

"(The programs) feature the most extreme examples of obesity, and we take solace that we are not that big," she said.

The survey was conducted last July among a national sample of 600 adult women.

Source-ANI
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