Children Who Are Obese Don't Necessarily Realize It
By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - We talk about it often and the numbers are dramatic - nearly 17% of US children and adolescents are obese. But according to a CDC report, many people who are obese don't consider themselves as having the condition.
Over a 10-year period, starting in 2002, scientists examined the differences between actual weight and self-reported weight for children between 8 and 15. Three out of ten got their weight wrong. But here is what is concerning - in overweight children, 81% of the boys and 71% of the girls believed that they were "about the right weight". Amongst obese children (one step past overweight), 48% of the boys and 36% of the girls considered themselves "about the right weight".
Obesity in children is a bmi that's greater than 95% of other children their age, overweight is a bmi bigger than 85-95% for age.