Do You Tell Your Doctor the Truth? Many People Don’t . . .

. . . at least in Texas.  That’s the finding from a study conducted by Promark Research Corporation on behalf of True Results, a company that provides a comprehensive program and a treatment team that treats obesity by Lap Band surgery. 

The True Results Health Honesty Survey was conducted throughout Texas in January; 802 residents were surveyed online.  The main finding was that more than half of those surveyed admitted to lying to family or doctors about their health and fitness habits, such as nutrition and the amount of exercise they took.  The main reasons given were embarrassment about one’s real habits (57%) and not wanting to explain the truth (37%).  More women than men lie about their health and fitness behavior to family than men (50% vs. 43%) and to their physicians (34% vs. 28%).  Overweight people are more dishonest than others.  This is shown in the table:

Weight	Lie to Family/Friends	Lie to Physicians
Normal Overweight Obese Very Obese Morbidly Obese	36% 45% 50% 63% 65%	23% 26% 37% 45% 50%

As a True Results spokesperson says, lying about your health and fitness, even if only a few times a year, can signify a fundamental issue in your ability to achieve your health goals.  Be honest with yourself, friends, family, and health givers.  It’s worth a little embarrassment.