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A UCLA study suggests American media and cultural obsession with achieving a certain weight does little to convince couch potatoes of any size to abandon their favorite sofa cushions and get active. In fact, those messages may actually undermine motivation to adopt exercise and other healthy lifestyle habits. 

The cross-cultural study, published in the journal Obesity, finds that women are more likely to categorize themselves as overweight than men, both overall and within each ethnic group. White women of average weight are the only ethnic-gender group studied in which the proportion of sedentary individuals is not higher among those who consider themselves overweight, versus average weight. The researchers noted that in addition to cultural expectations, greater access to fitness programs, "walkable" neighborhoods, quality child and elder care, and flexible work hours all help make the choice to be active easier for white women overall than their Latina and African American counterparts. According to the researchers, all groups may benefit from messages that shift the focus away from a specific target weight and associated calorie counting, and instead promote increased physical activity and healthy eating habits.

Source: “Ethnic and Sex Variations in Overweight Self-perception: Relationship to Sedentariness”, Obesity Journal, 14:980-988 (2006), http://www.obesityresearch.org/. Also UCLA news release, http://www.ph.ucla.edu/, August 01, 2006