Data has shown that people are waiting for longer before seeking to lose weight. According to the slimming group Weight Watchers, the average weight at which people seek out their services has risen by 11% over the last two decades.
The report has lead to Britons being described as ‘fat blind’, as over the last two decades they have put on 18lbs more before deciding they need help to lose weight. The organisation said that Brits are less aware of how heavy they are getting and increasingly do not know how their weight could be affecting their health.
The slimming club records the starting weight of all new members who sign up to one of their weight-loss schemes. Over the time period on record, weight at the beginning has been steadily rising from 12.3 stones in 1989 to today’s average of 13.7 stones.
When read in terms of body mass index, the figure doctors use to decide whether someone is dangerously overweight, it has risen from 29.2 to 32, meaning that the average Weight Watchers member is already clinically obese by the time they join.
Weight Watchers themselves said that 90% of Brits were unable to identify a body that is obese, while 68% of those who are obese are unaware of their condition.
Their vice president, Mads Ryder, said the statistics showed that if people were unable to identify what an overweight or obese person looks like, it marked that we as a society are out of touch with healthy weights and body shapes.