Overweight Moms, Children Think They're Thinner Than They Really Are, Study Shows

by Tom Henderson (Subscribe to Tom Henderson's posts)
Mar 24th 2011 12:15PM

Filed under: In The News, Nutrition, Health

Watch Videos of Four Families Striving To Meet Their Fitness Goals!

Nearly half of moms with fat kids thought their children were at a healthy weight. Credit: Getty Images

Yes, those pants make you look fat.

Actually, to be honest, it's not so much that they make you look fat. You are fat.

Very few women can pull off polyester stretch pants with the word "delicious" emblazoned across the rear end, and girlfriend? You are not one of them.

Don't worry. It's a big club. With plenty of refreshments.

USA Today reports many a big mama and her horizontally challenged offspring are not as svelte as they think.

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center in New York asked 111 women and 111 children questions about their age, income and body size, and also measured their height and weight. They were asked to identify their body shapes based on silhouettes representing underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obesity.

Researchers found:

• 66 percent of the mothers were overweight or obese.

• 39 percent of kids were too heavy.

• 82 percent of the mammoth mommies underestimated their weight when looking at the silhouettes; 42.5 percent of overweight women did the same. About 13 percent of normal-weight women thought of themselves as thinner than they were.

• 86 percent of the corpulent kiddies underestimated their weight, compared with 15 percent of normal-weight kids.

• 47.5 percents of moms with fat kids thought their children were at a healthy weight.

• 41 percent of the children thought their moms could lay off the donuts and lose weight.

Pediatrician Claire McCarthy of Children's Hospital Boston tells USA Today roughly half of her patients are fat.

"Parents come in and say that their child is too thin, but on the growth charts, he's a normal weight or even slightly overweight," she tells the newspaper. "There are so many overweight children out there that a normal-weight child looks thin. The norm has become overweight."

As America gets fatter, people could get a warped attitude toward their fattitude, lead researcher Nicole Dumas, an internal medicine resident at Columbia, tells USA Today.

"We're working on accruing a larger sample size to see if it applies to everyone," Dumas tells the newspaper. "The take-home message is that to address the obesity epidemic, we have to address body image misperception."

Check out how the families in our Healthy Families Challenge are doing!

ReaderComments (Page 6 of 16)

Add Your Comments

3-24-2011 @ 3:30PM

ray said...

It's so funny I see all these woman at my son's school and about 80% are so fat and they walk around with this scowl on there face like "I'm a b*tch, don't mess with me" and they all dress like slobs, most still in there pj's at 3 in the afternoon with no makeup, hair not done. It's so funny and sad at the same time. I just love the women that say "but wheres the solution"?- hello-- do you really need someone to tell you to shower brush your teeth slap a little makeup on and comb your hair? What are you like 4? Also I think you can think on your own to take a walk and get some exercise. Stop trying to make everyone feel sorry for you like your a victim all the time. I'm sick of hearing excuses like "you just don't understand" or "you shouldn't be so mean" or my favorite " this is the size of most woman now of days". It seems like fat woman and men need to hear "hey you are fat get out and do something and put a carrot stick in your mouth instead of that hot dog" then maybe you will finally get it. HOPEFULLY. now a bunch of trolls with respond with "leave us alone, what makes you so perfect, blah blah" . Just go back to the beginning of the post and read again and again and maybe something will click!!

3-24-2011 @ 5:44PM

AbstractDr3ams said...

Wow..you got all that about who these women are and how they live their life by a 10 second scowl they gave you at your child's school? Most of them walk around with a scowl from being judged and ridiculed for how they look for years. Case in point..you. Give yourself a pat on the back fella...people exactly life you made them that way.

Most diabetics are over weight due to the disease itself btw, they eat right, take daily shots but because their bodies can not product insulin and break down sugars and carbohydrates (the good and bad kinds) they struggle with obesity, organ failure, nerve damage. Do not judge a book by its cover, I have watched my mother struggle for years with diabetes and take care of herself yet still struggle with her weight. So many Americans are diabetic and do not even realize it.

Worry more about your life and just know that all those women scowling at you are luckily not your gf, not your wife, not anyone you even have to know. Live & let live.

3-24-2011 @ 3:31PM

Casi said...

One question:
What are we worried about here:
Making America healthy or making America beautiful?
The reason I ask is this: If we allow parents to tell five-year-olds that they are fat, those children will develop an inhuman, inferiority complex. They will become passive and superficial, caring more about weight loss than the innermost parts of their soul. They will be convinced that they are not human and that they are not worthy.
The suicide rate will, without a doubt, increase as anorexia increases.
Death will increase, overall.
America will become a disgusting hellhole for people with depression.

So I ask again: Should we care about Americans being a healthy weight or at a healthy mindset?

3-24-2011 @ 3:41PM

Ashley said...

I personally can not understand why people feel the need to be so rude in this country. The person who wrote above that our attitudes are as "fat" as the average person in this country got it right. The attitude of the "journalist" that wrote this article is personally offensive to me, and I'm not even overweight! Whatever happened to giving people the benefit of the doubt, or at the very least, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"? I'm pretty sure that each and every overweight person in America gets up and looks at themselves in the mirror and doesn't like what they see, regardless of the cause of their obesity. Just like someone else may get up after a hangover and hate their alcoholism. But they are human beings, and if someone embarrassed you in public about something YOU struggled with, you wouldn't appreciate your faults being pointed out. Why would you inflict that on another person? Your waist size does not determine your worth as a person, just like sexual preference, race, or any other distinguishing characteristic about a person determines WHO they are. If this article had been about race or sexual preference, it would have been taken down. Quit being a jerk, America.

3-24-2011 @ 3:33PM

Berna said...

I didn't even to bother to read the whole article because the quality of the study is highly diminished by the author's sexist and rude tone. It defeats the purpose to assign a person with that attitude to relay such enlightening information, and it doesn't attract readers who have respect towards the true issue at hand.

3-24-2011 @ 3:38PM

Mlynn said...

This article is so disgusting and prejudicial, I almost want to leave AOL as a result of it. I wish there a "report article" option. I have never been overweight and neither are my children. However, I do have a couple of health problems - so I am sure I am to blame somehow. Let's all forget things like manners, education, basic human compassion and judge people solely on their physical appearance. (sarcasm) Who decided what is beautiful anyway?
You can argue that it is about health if you want, but if it was suddenly proven that fatter was healthier, you would not see people rushing to gain weight. We are an appearance-driven society and it makes me so sad that it is perfectly okay to talk to or about a segment of our population this way and get away with it. I hope I have taught my children not to judge someone on their weight any more than their gender or race. More manners, less hatred!

3-24-2011 @ 3:34PM

Don said...

People have hundreds of reasons why they are fat. The sad part is most of them believe them.

3-24-2011 @ 3:39PM

VickieLyn said...

Come on moms take some responsibility. Why can't you go back to the way you were before the kids and we the moms feed the kids. Get it. And do not blame meds or diabetes...... in most cases fat is how you got there. And I am a mom---3 grown kids, smaller size than when I was twenty because I care about me and my family.

3-24-2011 @ 4:11PM

mmtrek777 said...

I lost 120 pounds and yeah, I feel good about myself. Much better than I did when I was heavier.

But I damn sure wouldn't be caught talking about someone else's imperfection. Karma is a bitch and I've been bitten by it once. I don't need to go through that again to learn, a lesson. If you have to put someone else down to make you feel good, Teeny Tommy, (I'm not talking about your height) then something is really wrong with you in your life.

To my overweight friends, it does feel great when you lose the weight, but just because you are fat doesn't mean someone can degrade you the way this idiot writer has done. I know it's hard, really I do. But start small. Some overweight people have a problem with eating, some have a problem with not getting enough exercise. Some have both. You have to make the decision yourself to start small, walk a little further each day or every two days. Whatever it takes to make you feel good about yourself. F--k idiots who have the nerve to talk about someone else.

Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you!

3-24-2011 @ 3:35PM

couponko said...

It's time to get real. Nobody wants to be held accountable for being fat..we're all supposed to pretend it's ok. It's just not, and that is not only because it's irresponsilbe, but because overweight people contribute to soaring health costs that most of us end up paying for some way or another. This isn't about being mean, I am telling you like it is from a medical standpoint.

wufs said...

couponko_ anorexics contribute to soaring health costs. Mayeb they should go suicidal so wer dont have to =deal with their image issues, psych problems, cutting and tooth loss from puking up their dinnner. They ahve absolutely NO self contril and are worthless

3-24-2011 @ 6:47PM

Mary in OR said...

The only thing about this article that has it right is the issue of body image. If a person doesn't have a positive body image, it won't matter how light or heavy the person is, he or she won't be a healthy person. Stop focusing on image and focus on health. There are far more reasons a person is light or heavy than the level of food intake or activity levels.

3-24-2011 @ 4:12PM

I'm totally appalled and disgusted that Parent Dish would allow someone on their site who would put down other people. I sure hope you're as pretty as the fat girl I used to be. But I doubt it. That's why you think it's okay to put down someone else. Ugly only knows ugliness.

It's so funny I see all these woman at my son's school and about 80% are so fat and they walk around with this scowl on there face like "I'm a b*tch, don't mess with me" and they all dress like slobs, most still in there pj's at 3 in the afternoon with no makeup, hair not done. It's so funny and sad at the same time. I just love the women that say "but wheres the solution"?- hello-- do you really need someone to tell you to shower brush your teeth slap a little makeup on and comb your hair? What are you like 4? Also I think you can think on your own to take a walk and get some exercise. Stop trying to make everyone feel sorry for you like your a victim all the time. I'm sick of hearing excuses like "you just don't understand" or "you shouldn't be so mean" or my favorite " this is the size of most woman now of days". It seems like fat woman and men need to hear "hey you are fat get out and do something and put a carrot stick in your mouth instead of that hot dog" then maybe you will finally get it. HOPEFULLY. Now a bunch of trolls will respond with "leave us alone, what makes you so perfect, blah blah" . Just go back to the beginning of the post and read again and again and maybe something will click!!

3-24-2011 @ 3:40PM

Isn't it sad Don? It's always someone's fault too. Then there are those who say they have a condition, which is a rare situation. There is only one reason people are fat; they eat too much and do nothing physical.

Chrissie said...

Mr. Henderson - I am a normal sized woman who, blessedly, has never had a problem with weight. Even so, I was offended with the terminology used in your article; if you were attempting to be clever, you missed the mark. If you are arrogant enough to be cruel, shame on you. For those of you who struggle with your weight, keep on fighting - y our health is worth it.

3-24-2011 @ 11:29PM

krissy said...

Very well said! I am fortunate as well and am very petite and tiny (sometimes I wish I was bigger) lol but this was a VERY unprofessional article, I was shocked at the language used. I thought one of my elementary kids wrote this. You can get your point across and not be disgustingly rude. Shame on him is right!

3-24-2011 @ 3:42PM

There is an epidemic of obesity in America. Period.

jed said...

hey wufs do you have 2 butts like those women do

3-24-2011 @ 3:44PM

AKJ23 said...

Being fat is one thing, but I don't understand why they don't wear longer tops to cover up their muffin top tummies. I guess if they let themselves get to that point, they don't much care about covering up those areas that would look better covered.

Previous 20 Comments 4 567 8 Next 20 Comments

Hot on HuffPost Parents:

Overweight Moms, Children Think They're Thinner Than They Really Are, Study Shows