Doctors have a natural tendency to ignore or not believe patients with weight problems who talk about things related to their problem, such as exercise, eating habits, and quantities consumed. Nutritionists tend to also put a measure of distrust to such statements.

This is because studies show that people who have weight problems have a tendency to misrepresent the amounts of food they’re eating to themselves. Either that, or they tend to underestimate just how much food they’ve consumed over a given period. This is relatively natural, and it is not a conscious problem. However, when it comes to exercise, things are a little different. Research shows that people who have weight problems are far more in-tune with how much exercise they have done than most people would believe.

According to a study conducted by researchers at Temple University’s Center for Obesity Research and Education, obese women were more likely to be accurate in recording and reporting their activity levels than women who were overweight or were in their normal weight range. For about a year, the team studied women who were of normal weight, overweight, and obese. The participants were given accelerometers to measure their physical activity, and asked how much they exercised at the start of the study, as well as three months after it began, and at the end of it.

It was noted that women who were either overweight or were in the normal weight range had a difficult time estimating just how much physical activity they had. On the other hand, the obese seemed to have a pretty good handle on things, and reported a much more accurate estimate of how much exercise they had during the period of the study.

Tracy Oliver, one of the authors of the study, said that the obese women were largely considered to be “less credible” when reporting their calorie intake, which made many assume that they’d also have difficulty estimating time spent in physical activity. However, the finding shows an exact reversal of the assumption, and it is theorized that the lower levels of physical activity that an obese person engages in, along with self-esteem, can be taken as the cause. “They want to give themselves credit for every little bit engaged in due to the effort put forth,” she said.

It is known that the obese have a much harder time engaging in physical activity than others do, with even the simplest of exertions being potentially fatigue-inducing for them. It is therefore natural that they would prefer to keep an accurate record of how much they’ve done, taking it as a means of boosting their self-esteem by providing an objective measurement of their efforts to counteract their condition and become healthier.