Low Self Esteem A Result Of Being Overweight

The psychological effects of becoming heavy – and obesity – are sometimes disastrous. Larger people are often teased by others whose weight is in the normal range. Jokes poking fun at overweight and obese people are regular in today’s society. Overweight people are often have to put up with a tirade of abuse and pyschological barbs and social denigrations. Because of this, they suffer low self-esteem, feel inadequate and are frequently looked upon as the source of their own problems.

Social situations are , or can be, uneasy for those with obesity. Spending a day at a beach or public pools, where they have to wear clothes which are more revealing, is a socially awkward time. If an overweight person decides to play competitive sports he will often experience the humiliation of being the least wanted. In school, obese or overweight children perform poorer academically than their normal weight peers – they also tend to have lower grade point averages. Leaving school, as young adults, they have more difficulty gaining acceptance into college and securing jobs and future promotions. It is no wonder that over time these experiences lead to poor self esteem and self-confidence. That begins a sequence of social isolation, emotional withdrawal, more overeating, caused by depression, inactivity, and further weight gain.

Body image distortion and general body dissatisfaction suffered by obese and overweight people are often linked in the development of negative self-worth, so tend to serve as risk factors toward depression and abnormal eating behaviours. One’s body image can be affected and partly shaped by your cultural beliefs and ‘norms’ concerning beauty and attractiveness.

Many obese people like to blame their obesity on medical problems , for example, thyroid disease. As it happens , less than 1% of those who are overweight or obese have a true hormonal imbalance, or any such other condition. While no single reason gets to the cause of the phenomenon, likely causes are poor nutrition, bad eating habits, lack of exercise.

Needless to say, there are some very simple things an obese or overweight person might do to enhance his self-esteem. For starters they should get advice from a general practitioner to find out just how significant the problem is, or if there really is a problem at all. Everyone is built differently and some who seem to be obese when compared to family and friends really are just within a normal range for themselves.

Cutting down on watching TV would be beneficial. There’s a link being overweight and watching television. The average person watches at least (!) three hours of television a day, – do you know what is the product most commonly advertised product on TV? It’s food What’s the most likely thing people do when watching television? Eat – that’s what they do. Watching TV would probably be better limited to just a couple of hours a day, as a maximum. More beneficially, television viewing can be done while exercising.

Of course those who are overweight must bear the responsibility to defend themselves from the harm, physical and pyschological, brought about by being heavy. By establishing healthy eating and exercise patterns, they can conquer the challenge of overweight, so that they can live and enjoy life without the burden of being weighted down by being bigger than the ‘normal’ weight.