Feeling confident and secure about your body is important, and a critical part of having high self-esteem, and as the health care debate continues, advocates for “fat acceptance” are struggling to have their voices heard by lawmakers. Yet, while it is clearly true that weight isn’t the solitary indicator of health, a problem arises when obese patients are unaware of how their weight can negatively impact their health. For clinically obese patients who perceive their body size as healthy, or even believe they could afford to gain more weight to reach an ideal body size, researchers from the University of Texas say there may be such a thing as feeling too comfortable in your own skin. In a study of 2,056 obese patients—defined as having a body mass index of 30 or higher—8% believed that they were at a healthy weight, or could even afford to gain weight, despite having markedly high incidences of and increased risks for conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and high cholesterol.
