People who think they are fat likely to gain more weight

MANILA, Philippines - Ideally, thinking that you are fat would make you want to cut back more on calories, but a recent study says that the more you think you are fat, the more you are likely to gain weight. But how?

In the study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, researchers found out that "overthinking" leads to stress-eating, thus resulting to weight gain.

To come up with the result, the researchers analyzed data from three longitudinal studies, asking the participants perception of their own weight once they reached adulthood - regardless if their perceptions are right or wrong). For number of years, the researchers have taken notes of the weight gained over time.

As a result, they have found out that those who think they are "overweight" actually gained more weight, and the same finding was observed regardless of whether a person was actually overweight or not.

The study team sought to control for factors known to increase the risk of weight gain and found that the results were not due to outside psychological, health or environmental factors. 

People react to stress in different ways. The study proves that the word "overweight" actually has a stigma that can result to a poor impact on your health.

In an interview with dailymail.co.uk, Dr. Eric Robinson, one of the authors of the study says society should encourage people to have healthier lifestyle rather than instilling in them that being overweight is a real "terrible" thins.

"What is important is to tackle stigma in society. People with a heavier body weight have body image challenges. That is not surprising given the way we talk about weight as a society. But the way we talk about body weight and the way we portray overweight and obesity in society is something we can think about and reconsider," he said.