Changing Weight Stigmas:Impact of Weight Change and Social Isolation

Changing Weight Stigmas:Impact of Weight Change and Social Isolation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Changing Weight Stigmas:Impact of Weight Change and Social Isolation Annie Chan, Anna Fieldwalker, Damien Kuczynski This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5834035/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract We demonstrated that visual body perception can be modified by changing one’s body weight and social environment. Participants performed a body size estimation task in virtual reality environment while we simulated weight gain and weight loss using a wearable bariatric suit. During weight gain, accuracies for all obese bodies got worse, showing an under-estimation for bigger bodies. Following weight loss, participants normalized white leaner bodies, over-estimating underweight, but their performance improved for normal and overweight bodies, illustrating an advantage of losing weight. This study was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, subsequent nation-wide lockdown in the UK offered a rare opportunity to investigate body estimation pre- vs during- a prolonged period of social isolation. The lockdown had dramatically reduced in-person interaction, increased use of social media, streaming, and zoom meetings. We found a reduction in normalizing underweight women, and unlike pre-pandemic, people were more “lenient” to heavier women, especially for the novel green bodies. Contrary to the idea that the media has alleviated weight stigmas for women, our data from lockdown suggested that in-person interaction is driving those stigmas. Overall, we illustrated that body size perception is malleable and weight stigmas can be changed. Biological sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour Health sciences/Health care/Weight management Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5834035","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":405240435,"identity":"24b563bf-b92f-413a-9d50-c270dd7dead7","order_by":0,"name":"Annie Chan","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA90lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJCCA0CcwMDAfAzM44MIJhCjhS0NzGMjRgtUBY8ZcVr4Z/cePPCBwS6Pf3bPt8eVbXfk2BiYH35gbEvDqUXizrmEgzMYkosl7pzdbni27ZkxGwObsQRjWw5uF93IMTjMw3AgseFG7jbJxrbDiW0MDGYMjG0VOHXIg7T8AWqZfyPnGUhLfRsD+ze8WgxAWoCBlrjhRg4bSEsCGygc8DnMEKjlYI9BcuLGG2nmhg3nDhu2MfMUSyScw+19uRs5xh9+VNglzruR/OxhQ9lheX729o0fPpQl4/Y+xHnIHGYGYiJyFIyCUTAKRgE+AABcwlT8qnKlEwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9072-9222","institution":"Brunel University of London","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Annie","middleName":"","lastName":"Chan","suffix":""},{"id":405240436,"identity":"9b7e5163-7de9-4730-a3e3-be6497679f39","order_by":1,"name":"Anna Fieldwalker","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anna","middleName":"","lastName":"Fieldwalker","suffix":""},{"id":405240437,"identity":"0b4f2916-1976-4c73-a547-7516f8ace48d","order_by":2,"name":"Damien Kuczynski","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Brunel University of London","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Damien","middleName":"","lastName":"Kuczynski","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-01-15 11:36:08","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5834035/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5834035/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":79267900,"identity":"acf30114-4924-428e-8e9c-8749580a9ecd","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-03-26 10:29:02","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":3554867,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"NatureCommsVersion26EverythingAC.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5834035/v1_covered_135211ee-bef9-4f14-be1a-63b85f44b312.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eChanging Weight Stigmas:Impact of Weight Change and Social Isolation\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5834035/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5834035/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"We demonstrated that visual body perception can be modified by changing one’s body weight and social environment. 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