REALISTIC WEIGHT PERCEPTION AND BODY-SIZE ASSESSMENT IN A RACIALLY-DIVERSE COMMUNITY SAMPLE OF DIETERS

Recently, a shift in obesity treatment away from emphasizing ideal wei ght loss goals to establishing realistic weight loss goals has been pr oposed; yet, what constitutes ''realistic'' weight loss for different populations is not clear, This study examined notions of realistic sha pe and weight as well as body size assessment in a large community-bas ed sample of African-American, Asian, Hispanic, and white men and wome n, Participants were 1893 survey respondents who were all dieters and primarily overweight, Groups were compared on various variables of bod y image assessment using silhouette ratings, No significant race diffe rences were found in silhouette ratings, nor in perceptions of realist ic shape or reasonable weight loss, Realistic shape and weight ratings by both women and men were smaller than current shape and weight but larger than ideal shape and weight ratings. Compared with male dieters , female dieters considered greater weight loss to be realistic, Impli cations of the findings for the treatment of obesity are discussed.