According to a new research, young people who perceive themselves as fat persons are more likely to grow fat than those who do not perceive themselves as fat.

Researchers from Norwegian University of Science and Technology found that teens who see themselves as fat even if they are not overweight, may grow up to be fat adults. This is related to psychosocial stress, which is related to expanding waist.

The psychosocial stress that pressurizes people to have an ideal body as well as the perception of being fat, may lead to growing fat as adults. They said that following an unsustainable diet can also be counterproductive as the body tries to maintain the weight that the person had before dieting.

The researchers noted that three teenage girls, who believed they were fat even as they were not overweight, grew up to be fat compared with three in ten who did not perceive themselves to be fat. The stress of being unhappy with the body size, skipping meals such as breakfast and trying strict diets that cannot be sustained, lead to becoming fat, the researchers said.

Koenraad Cuypers, a researcher from the university said, "Another explanation may be that young people who see themselves as fat often change their eating habits by skipping meals, for example . Research has shown that dropping breakfast can lead to obesity."