Does Self-Perception Equal the Truth When Judging Own Body Weight and Height?
Background: Data from the research project “Fitness clubs—a venue for public health?” provided an opportunity to evaluate the accuracy of self-reported body weight and height, and subsequent Body Mass Index (BMI), as well as the “trueness” of novice exercisers perception of weight status category, w...
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doaj-f355f94cfdd6489a9aceb3ed1a29e0032021-08-26T13:49:17ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1661-78271660-46012021-08-01188502850210.3390/ijerph18168502Does Self-Perception Equal the Truth When Judging Own Body Weight and Height?Lene A. H. Haakstad0Trine Stensrud1Christina Gjestvang2Department of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, 0806 Oslo, NorwayDepartment of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, 0806 Oslo, NorwayDepartment of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, 0806 Oslo, NorwayBackground: Data from the research project “Fitness clubs—a venue for public health?” provided an opportunity to evaluate the accuracy of self-reported body weight and height, and subsequent Body Mass Index (BMI), as well as the “trueness” of novice exercisers perception of weight status category, which has not been examined in this population. The aims were to examine self-reported body weight, height, and calculated BMI data from an online survey compared with measured data at fitness club start-up, investigate how accurately novice exercisers place themselves within self-classified weight group (underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese), and compare this with fitness club attendance at three months follow-up. Methods: Prior to anthropometric measurements, 62 men and 63 women responded to an online questionnaire, including body weight (kilogram, kg) and height (centimeters, cm), and self-classified weight group (“<i>I think I am … underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese</i>”). We used the following statistical analysis: Paired sample <i>t</i>-tests, a Bland–Altman plot kappa statistics, chi-squared tests, and a logistic regression. Results: Mean difference of BMI calculated from self-reported and measured data was 0.06 (95% CI −0.29 to 0.17, <i>p</i> = 0.593) in men, and 0.16 (95% CI −0.40 to 0.09, <i>p</i> = 0.224) in women, with four participants being outliers of the 95% limits of agreement (Bland-Altman plot). Allowing a difference of 0.5 kg between self-reported and measured weight, we found that 16% reported their weight correctly, 31.2% underreported (−1.89 ± 1.59 kg), and 52.8% overreported (1.85 ± 1.23 kg), with no sex differences (<i>p</i> = 0.870). Further, our results suggest that both sexes may have difficulty recognizing overweight/obesity in themselves, and particularly men are likely to underreport their perceived weight group compared with women. More than half (53.3%) of the overweight men perceived themselves to be normal weight (women: 14%), and only 33.3% of obese men and women correctly classified themselves as being obese. We did not find any difference between participants correctly or incorrectly classifying weight group and fitness club attendance (≥2 times a week) at three months follow-up. Conclusion: Both sexes reported body weight and height reasonably accurately, and BMI based on self-report appears to be valid measure. Still, a large proportion of novice exercisers do not recognise their own overweight or obesity status, which may in part explain why public health campaigns do not reach risk populations.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8502body weightbody mass indexnovice exercisersself-classified weight groupvalidation |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Lene A. H. Haakstad Trine Stensrud Christina Gjestvang |
spellingShingle |
Lene A. H. Haakstad Trine Stensrud Christina Gjestvang Does Self-Perception Equal the Truth When Judging Own Body Weight and Height? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health body weight body mass index novice exercisers self-classified weight group validation |
author_facet |
Lene A. H. Haakstad Trine Stensrud Christina Gjestvang |
author_sort |
Lene A. H. Haakstad |
title |
Does Self-Perception Equal the Truth When Judging Own Body Weight and Height? |
title_short |
Does Self-Perception Equal the Truth When Judging Own Body Weight and Height? |
title_full |
Does Self-Perception Equal the Truth When Judging Own Body Weight and Height? |
title_fullStr |
Does Self-Perception Equal the Truth When Judging Own Body Weight and Height? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Does Self-Perception Equal the Truth When Judging Own Body Weight and Height? |
title_sort |
does self-perception equal the truth when judging own body weight and height? |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
issn |
1661-7827 1660-4601 |
publishDate |
2021-08-01 |
description |
Background: Data from the research project “Fitness clubs—a venue for public health?” provided an opportunity to evaluate the accuracy of self-reported body weight and height, and subsequent Body Mass Index (BMI), as well as the “trueness” of novice exercisers perception of weight status category, which has not been examined in this population. The aims were to examine self-reported body weight, height, and calculated BMI data from an online survey compared with measured data at fitness club start-up, investigate how accurately novice exercisers place themselves within self-classified weight group (underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese), and compare this with fitness club attendance at three months follow-up. Methods: Prior to anthropometric measurements, 62 men and 63 women responded to an online questionnaire, including body weight (kilogram, kg) and height (centimeters, cm), and self-classified weight group (“<i>I think I am … underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese</i>”). We used the following statistical analysis: Paired sample <i>t</i>-tests, a Bland–Altman plot kappa statistics, chi-squared tests, and a logistic regression. Results: Mean difference of BMI calculated from self-reported and measured data was 0.06 (95% CI −0.29 to 0.17, <i>p</i> = 0.593) in men, and 0.16 (95% CI −0.40 to 0.09, <i>p</i> = 0.224) in women, with four participants being outliers of the 95% limits of agreement (Bland-Altman plot). Allowing a difference of 0.5 kg between self-reported and measured weight, we found that 16% reported their weight correctly, 31.2% underreported (−1.89 ± 1.59 kg), and 52.8% overreported (1.85 ± 1.23 kg), with no sex differences (<i>p</i> = 0.870). Further, our results suggest that both sexes may have difficulty recognizing overweight/obesity in themselves, and particularly men are likely to underreport their perceived weight group compared with women. More than half (53.3%) of the overweight men perceived themselves to be normal weight (women: 14%), and only 33.3% of obese men and women correctly classified themselves as being obese. We did not find any difference between participants correctly or incorrectly classifying weight group and fitness club attendance (≥2 times a week) at three months follow-up. Conclusion: Both sexes reported body weight and height reasonably accurately, and BMI based on self-report appears to be valid measure. Still, a large proportion of novice exercisers do not recognise their own overweight or obesity status, which may in part explain why public health campaigns do not reach risk populations. |
topic |
body weight body mass index novice exercisers self-classified weight group validation |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8502 |
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