Impact of Weight Concerns in Diet Reporting

Negative weight stigma towards people living with obesity can come from external (media, health professionals, etc.) or internal sources. When such people report their diets, they underreport the amount of unhealthy foods they consume and over report healthier ones. There are many reasons for diet misreporting and this thesis focuses just on a drive for thinness, and negative stigma from external sources. The aim of this study was to examine whether manipulating weight bias influences diet reporting. One group had their weight, height, and body measurements taken at the start of the study (weighed-first group). They then completed the Dietary Fat and free Sugar Questionnaire (DFS), the Australian Eating Survey (AES), the Antifat Attitudes Questionnaire (AFA), a filler task and were then debriefed. The second group did the same but were weighed last. The weighed-first group did not report consuming less unhealthy food and more healthy food (and relatedly less overall energy intake) than the weighed-last group, like it was predicted. It was also found that misreporting, which was expected to be larger in participants living with obesity, and especially in women, were non-significant. Finally, the Antifat attitudes which were expected to be stronger in the weighed-first group were also non-significant.