The Checkup: You Might Weigh More Than You Think, Study Says

Uh-oh: A new study found we've gotten increasingly bad at estimating our own weight.


• I’ll be the first to admit that I’m bad at estimating things. Like, if you’ve got a jar with a thousand gum balls and ask me to lobby a guess, don’t be surprised when my answer is, “Um, 10?” It’s a problem. Also a problem: the growing gap, according to a new study, between people’s estimations of their body weight and their actual body weight. In the study, the issue was especially prevalent among obese people, whose rate of accuracy with regards to their weight dropped from 80 percent in 1998 to only 53 percent in 2009. Meaning? Lots of people think they weigh a lot less than they do. As the Los Angeles Times reports, “Study authors wrote that under-reporting of BMI has significantly increased over time, and was likely due to ‘the normalization of obesity.’ In other words, obesity had become so common that it has altered people’s view of what is considered normal or obese.” Read more here.

Think you’re a good multitasker? Think again—a new study found that the better we think we are at multitasking (oh, you know, like driving while texting) the worse we actually are at it. Read more at NPR.

• Guys, you might want to lay off the fries and Bloomin’ Onions: a study found that eating deep-fried foods regularly (i.e. once a week or more) may increase your risk for prostate cancer. More here.