A few months ago the folks at the That’s Fit website asked their loyal readers to respond to an online survey on the subject of overweight as it pertains to personal friendships, specifically whether and to what degree being fat can affect or disrupt them. Since the survey uses feminine pronouns in its questions, the survey population is presumably mostly female, and also concerned with fitness, and so may not be representative of the American public in general. Even so, That’s Fit says they got nearly 500,000 responses, and than ain’t hay.

What Are Friends For? If You Answered, “Support and Honesty,” Not so Fast.

For whatever it may be worth, here are some of the more intriguing numbers. For openers, fully 90 percent of the survey respondents say that at least one of their friends needs to lose weight, while 64 percent say that at least two and as many as five of their friends need to lose. Five percent say all their friends are too fat.

How fat? Of the 90 percent with overweight friends, over half, 56 percent, say their friends need to shed at least 20 pounds. But nearly as many, 49 percent, insist they would never mention it to those friends. Perhaps that’s because a whopping 95 percent say they would still wish to be friends with someone who had become obese.

And why not, when 49 percent say that overweight friends, especially those fatter than themselves, make them feel better about their own weight, and one-third admit that their self-esteem rises when they’re with fat friends.

But there’s a downside to having overweight friends. Fully 92 percent claim that they sometimes, or always, eat more when dining with persons who overeat, and 39 percent claim that those friends undermine their own weight control efforts by eating unhealthily in their presence or badmouthing their attempts to diet.

And hey, with friends like those …

(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News):

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 27th, 2010 and is filed under Diet Blog, Obesity statistics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Permalink.