When You Should Never Lie About Your Weight
By April Daniels Husser,SELF magazine
Have you ever lied about your weight? I suspected I wasn't the only nutty person to have fudged the number when no one else was ever going to see it (like on the elliptical machine at the gym, for example), and as it turns out, I was right. A recent study published in the journal Ethnicity & Disease found that most people lie about their weight when they're filling out surveys.
It's kind of silly, but it's usually harmless to lie about your weight. However, according to Barb Dehn, RN, a women's health nurse practitioner in Silicon Valley, Calif., there is one person to whom you should never lie about the number on the scale.
See more: The Healthiest Cities for Women
Who's that? Yourself! "Many of us like to think of ourselves as slimmer than we are," says Dehn, who says her patients are often shocked when her office scale puts them at least 5-7 pounds heavier than they thought they were.
"They are in denial about their weight and don't think that the statistics about obesity, diabetes and risks of serious health issues actually apply to them," says Dehn. "It's normal and natural to have a 'blind spot' when it comes to the scale and to think that those 20-30 or more extra pounds are just temporary bloating; it's also normal to see the number and become overwhelmed and then not want to deal with it, and just throw in the towel."
See more: Foods That Fight Cellulite
But deal with it you must. "Yes, the truth is often painful, and yet not acknowledging it and working to take off some weight can take years off your life," cautions Dehn.
Meanwhile, don't try to get away with lying about your weight to Dehn -- or to any health care professional. "In most cases, when someone REALLY, really needs to know a woman's 100 percent accurate weight, like at your health care provider's office, we never, ever rely on someone's complete honesty," says Dehn. "That's why we have very unforgiving and heartbreakingly accurate scales."
Related: 21 Good-For-You Snacks
The Ethnicity & Disease study also found that women underestimate their Body Mass Index (BMI) more than men do, and white women underestimate BMI more than women of other ethnicities. According to Dehn, it's critically important to know exactly what your BMI is, so head on over to SELF's handy online calculator and take a good look at the numbers -- and don't cheat!
If the numbers tell you that you're not as trim as you'd like to be, don't worry! Check out SELF's Drop 10 Plan for a super fun way to kick-start a healthier you -- one who doesn't need to lie about her weight, to anyone!
More from SELF:
20 Superfoods for Weight Loss
Yoga Moves for Flat Abs
38 Antiaging Foods
Gwyneth Paltrow's Arm and Ab Workout
