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Despite being considered to be in bad taste, jokes on fat people are widespread in movies or TV shows, research shows. 'Although disparaging jokes about physical disability, religion and ethnicity are often considered to be not politically correct, obesity stands out as a condition that is commonly made fun of in entertainment media,' explained Jacob Burmeister, professor of psychology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
The study took a closer look at weight-related humour to see if anti-fat attitudes played into a person's appreciation or distaste for fat humour in the media. Participants watched seven video clips from popular film and TV shows featuring weight-related jokes. The clips represented the most common stereotypes about overweight individuals: lazy, unattractive and unintelligent.
Not surprisingly, the participants' dislike for obese persons and their belief in disparaging stereotypes about obesity were associated with higher levels of appreciation for weight-related humour. 'These findings are consistent with previous research that found associations between appreciation of sexist humour with sexist attitudes and beliefs,' authors wrote. (Read: Fat to fit: Mega guide for losing weight the right way)
Surprisingly, distaste for the clips did not equal a lower level of dislike for obese individuals. The researchers felt that finding weight-related humour to be mean or offensive has little to do with how much people like or dislike obese persons generally. 'People with obesity are often blamed for their weight which might be related to why viewers feel comfortable laughing at jokes about a character's weight, even if the jokes are a bit mean-spirited,' they concluded. The study also found that an individual's own Body Mass Index (BMI) was associated with his or her appreciation of weight-related humour. The study was featured in the journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture.
While TheHealthSite.com doesn't suffer from any form of anti-fat bias, there's no denying the fact that being heavier than normal can have a detrimental effect on your health. Here are some ways you can lose weight:
Here are some simple tips to lose weight:
Tip 1: Accept your problem
It's not just about looking good, obesity will kill you. It will give you heart disease, type 2 diabetes or joint problems. If you're a guy, the excess cholesterol build-up will give you erectile dysfunction and is also likely to increase infertility in both sexes. That's not how we were meant to live our lives. So stop listening to what others say about obesity and accept you've a problem. And obesity is not a sign of prosperity; it just means you are a glutton.
Tip 2: Stop believing in fad diets
I lost 40 kg in 9 months and I did it without any crash dieting. I didn't take weight loss pills, nor did I follow a fad diet. All I did was exercise and eat healthy. There are thousands of crash diets out there which will help you lose say 5-10 kg in a week but then the weight will come back when you stop following that diet. I've seen scores of people who lose a lot of weight but then gain it all back once they stop dieting. (Read: Fad is bad!)
Tip 3: Up the ante gradually
I was extremely lucky to have a trainer who knew that you can't push fat people too much or you'll end up disheartening them. When I went to the gym, my trainer Anil Bailu (a former Mr Maharashtra) started me off slow, not making me do more exercise than my body could handle. Every week, I would do weight training thrice a week and cardio for six days. In the beginning, that would only consist of 15-20 minutes sessions of mild walking, because he knew that my obese body couldn't take more. Gradually, as I lost weight, he upped the ante, increased the cardio time and I started lifting heavier weights as well. So don't overdo it and have patience, the results will come. Read more about Five easy tips to lose weight by an ex-obese!
With inputs from IANS
Photo source: Getty images
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