When and How the Mirror Lies

I t’s Saturday night and Donna and Steve are getting dressed to go to a party. Donna has spent over 45 minutes riffling through her closet for something to wear. She’s tried on at least fifteen different outfits, but everything feels too tight. As she’s trying to squeeze into a pair of black slacks, she looks desperately into the mirror. She says, “I am so fat! I’ve got to go on a diet! I need to lose at least twentypounds!”Meanwhile, Steve, who has waited until the last minute to get dressed
, rummages quickly through his dresser drawer and pulls out an old sweater. He wrestles with it for a few minutes trying to get it over his stomach; it feels rather snug, but it goes on. He takes a quick look at himself in the mirror and says, “Hey, this fits! Guess I’m still in OK shape.”

Here’s something that you didn’t know about Donna and Steve: Steve has a BMI of 32, while Donna’s is 26

BMI.) Bottom line: Steve is obese and Donna is just a little overweight.

While they are looking at themselves in the same bathroom mirror, they see their bodies very differently. The fact is that they have very dif- ferent perspectives—and both are a bit off. One thing they do share is that their perceptions of their weight, along with their reactions, mir- ror how the majority of men and women view themselves. Women tend to look at themselves and come up with a more realistic yet often overly harsh assessment of their weight. It is not uncommon for a woman at a healthy weight to believe that she needs to lose weight. Many men, on the other hand, spend less time looking at and think- ing about their bodies, and it is not uncommon for them to assess their weight as healthy when in fact it is not.

Weight awareness is one of the major weight gaps between men and women. This chapter provides insights into how women and men perceive body weight and explore how their different perspectives can affect the decision to lose weight.