---
"title": "Americans See Weight Problems Everywhere But In the Mirror"
"description": "Americans believe their fellow Americans have gotten fat. They consider this a serious national problem. But when they think about weight, they appear to use different scales for different people."
"date": "2006-04-11"
"authors":
  -
    "name": "Pew Research Center"
"url": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/social-trends/2006/04/11/americans-see-weight-problems-everywhere-but-in-the-mirror/"
"categories":
  - "Lifestyle"
  - "Medicine & Health"
"datasets":
  -
    "name": "Diet/Gambling/Movies"
    "url": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/dataset/dietgamblingmovies/"
---

# Americans See Weight Problems Everywhere But In the Mirror

[![People looking in mirror](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2006/04/obesity-interior.gif?w=300){.alignright width=300}](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/social-trends/2006/04/11/americans-see-weight-problems-everywhere-but-in-the-mirror/obesity-interior/)

Americans believe their fellow Americans have gotten fat. They consider this a serious national problem. But when they think about weight, they appear to use different scales for different people.

Nine-in-ten American adults say most of their fellow Americans are overweight. But just seven-in-ten say this about “the people they know.” And just under four-in-ten (39%) say they themselves are overweight.

These sliding assessments are drawn from a Pew Research Center telephone survey conducted from February 8 through March 7 among a randomly selected, representative national sample of 2,250 adults.

The survey finds that most Americans, including those who say they are overweight, agree that personal behavior – rather than genetic disposition or marketing by food companies – is the main reason people are overweight. In particular, the public says that a failure to get enough exercise is the most important reason, followed by a lack of willpower about what to eat. About half the public also says that the kinds of foods marketed at restaurants and grocery stores are a very important cause, and roughly a third say the same about the effect of genetics and heredity.

*Read the [full report](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2010/10/Obesity.pdf) for more details.*