What is it about?
Negative attitudes and beliefs about others' weight or size (weight bias) are highly prevalent and lead to discrimination against people based on their weight and size. This has a negative impact on their uptake of health promoting behaviours (i.e., adopting and maintaining a balanced diet and exercise). Weight and size discrimination is particularly prevalent in fitness spaces, which reduces the likelihood of people in larger bodies engaging with, and benefitting from, these spaces. There are very few resources that encourage fitness professionals to explore and challenge their weight biases. An initial step in tackling this issue is understanding fitness professionals' willingness to engage in weight bias interventions. These insights can be used to inform the development of an intervention that is acceptable, easily completed and integrated into fitness environments, and effective at reducing weight bias among fitness professionals.
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Why is it important?
Many fitness professionals (e.g., gym and fitness instructors, personal trainers, coaches, physical education teachers) possess implicit and explicit biases towards people in larger bodies. They are more likely to perceive them as uneducated, lazy, and lacking willpower, and therefore ultimately responsible for their fatness. Further, they are less likely to consider and discuss risks associated with weight loss, and more likely to perceive weight loss as straightforward and achievable for everyone, rather than it being a result of biological, social, and environmental factors. These harmful biases discourage people in larger bodies from accessing fitness spaces, and subsequently contribute to poor mental and physical health.
Perspectives
As a fat person, I have personally faced the challenge of finding sport and exercises spaces that are inclusive, supportive, and accepting of diverse bodies and appearances. It is my goal to make it easier for ALL people to access fitness spaces that are truly inclusive and do not promote harmful and outdated appearance ideals.
Jekaterina Schneider
University of the West of England
As a dietitian trained within the weight-centric paradigm, I soon faced the reality that is overwhelmingly confirmed by the data: That weight is only a correlation, not a cause of some health outcomes, and that the too simplistic view of energy-in and energy-out to manage weight has serious flaws. All health professionals have an obligation to look into the data that outweighs the harms and benefits of approaches that focus on weight loss and approaches that focus on a broader definition of health, and the data about the harms of weight stigma.
Aline Tinoco
University of the West of England
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Understanding fitness professionals’ weight biases and uptake of weight-inclusive practices: Findings from a mixed-methods survey., Stigma and Health, August 2024, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/sah0000567.
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