FAIL.

Via Raw Story:

In case there was not enough evidence that we need to reevaluate the way we are handling the obesity epidemic, a new study has found that obesity awareness can lead to increased weight gain. These findings seem to contradict the fact that those who are overweight tend not to realize it, and thus must be informed of the fact in order to combat the problem. Instead, researchers are finding that those suffering from obesity are fully aware, and the added pressure associated with being overweight is making them eat more.

According to Eric Robinson of the Institute of Psychology at Liverpool University, it is this awareness and the stigma that comes along with being overweight that is causing people to stress-eat.

“There is quite a substantial body of research showing it is not really very much fun being an overweight person in this climate,” Robinson told The Guardian. “It is a stigmatized condition. Realizing you are an overweight individual is in itself likely to be quite stressful and makes making healthy choices in your lifestyle more difficult.”

The study, which was published in the International Journal of Obesity, examined over 14,000 adults in the United States and United Kingdom within the three separate studies, the U.S. National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, the UK National Child Development Study, and Midlife in the United States.

To evaluate how weight changed based on obesity awareness, researchers examined self-reported perceptions of participants’ weight right as they reached adolescence. The UK study then tracked participants from ages 23 to 45, while the other two studies only tracked their participants for a 7- to 10-year time period.

Overall, researchers found “consistent” evidence that perceptions of being overweight, regardless of if they were true or not, meant that people would eat more. The team’s third study then found that this most frequently occurs when people are trying to comfort themselves; eating is the way they relieve stress.  […]

According to The Week, this study may mean reevaluating campaigns like First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Initiative, aimed at fighting the obesity epidemic by promoting healthy eating and exercising among American children. Though well intentioned, there have been several instances throughout the country that prove some children are electing to go against the First Lady’s efforts to help the country slim down. At Blackford High School in Hartford City, Ind., students have responded to healthier, but often more bland, lunches by developing a black market for salt and other seasonings in their cafeteria. On top of this, students were found to be eating more fast food as parents were taking their kids out for lunch more frequently to the local McDonald’s or Burger King.