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Dr Marilyn Glenville in London Evening Standard...Big Fat Liars

By Jasmine Gardner

We all tell the odd lie. I maintain, for example, that I have no idea how the teapot in my kitchen lost its handle. And when I missed my yoga class last week it was - of course - because I was feeling unwell.

Since we're taking confession, hands up if you've ever told this one: "I deserve this large slice of chocolate cake because I went for a run yesterday." How about: "I never eat junk food. I have a very balanced diet"? Ooh, you big fat liar!

The truth is, according to a recent poll, that women tell almost 500 lies every year about what they eat, with the top fib being, "It was only a small portion."

Meanwhile, the overweight among us are either oblivious or won't admit to being fat. Despite an obesity rate among UK adults of 24 per cent, only six per cent of men and women identify themselves as obese.

"There is a great deal of denial - unwitting and deliberate - surrounding obesity and food reporting," says Professor David Haslam of the National Obesity Forum. "Part of the problem is that adults and children compare themselves with their peers who are fat, so they don't see anything out of the ordinary."

New figures from experts at health and fitness event the Vitality Show highlight this. While 100 per cent of overweight women surveyed understood the meaning of BMI (body mass index), half then went on to identify an overweight person as "healthy".

"It is down to denial," says nutritionist Dr Marilyn Glenville, "because if the women acknowledge their BMI is unhealthy, then it suggests that they ought to do something about it. They will use many excuses. Overweight women will say to me, 'I have a slow metabolism'; 'My bones are heavy'; 'All the women in my family are large, it is just our genes'; 'I just have water retention'...Women often think they eat more healthily and drink less than they usually do."

Professor Haslam adds, "Those who do recognise their own obesity but deny that it's a problem - such as the US 'undieting' lobby with their slogan 'Fat! So?' - accept a huge risk of developing illnesses such as diabetes and cancer."

Last week, Karl Lagerfeld had to apologise after remarking that the multi-Grammy-winning singer Adele is "a little too fat". As hysteria and fury broke out online in defence of her body shape Adele, who has in the past admitted to being a size 14-16, responded by saying, "I've never wanted to look like models on the covers of magazines. I represent the majority of women and I'm very proud of that."

But while we laud celebrities such as Adele for being "curvy" and projecting a "normal" image to women, we are kidding ourselves. Because although the average British woman is a size 14, the average British woman is also overweight.

Here are the facts: the average British woman weighs 11st. At that weight, she would need to be 5ft 5in or taller (unless she is an athlete with a high muscle mass) to have a healthy BMI, but actually she's only 5ft 3in.

As two in every three people in this country are either overweight or obese, clearly the average is not a good measure of what is healthy.

In other words, keep telling yourself you're fine because you're average and you'll find you are fat.

This article appeared in London Evening Standard on 15 February 2012.