Implications of Wearing a Fat Suit

Implications of Wearing a Fat Suit for Eating, Physiological Stress, and Psychological Well-Being

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT02745405

Enrollment

109

Registered

2016-04-20

Start date

2014-04-30

Completion date

2014-12-31

Last updated

2016-04-20

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Feeding Behaviors

Keywords

Weight Stigma, Cortisol Reactivity, Eating Behavior

Brief summary

This study examined how wearing a fat suit might lead individuals to experience the negative effects of weight based stigmatization, including psychological, behavioral, and physiological consequences. It also aimed to test using the fat suit as a possible intervention tactic to reduce weight stigma.

Detailed description

The goal of this study was to understand how embodying a stigmatized domain might elicit the same consequences investigators see in victims of weight stigma. Participants were randomly assigned to either manipulate their weight through wearing a fat suit prosthesis or to a control condition where they wore the same clothing that was on the fat suit but in their own size. Outcome variables were cortisol reactivity, psychological well-being, and food and drink consumption. Additionally, this study tested whether wearing the fat suit might serve as an effective weight stigma reduction effort.

Interventions

OTHERFat Suit

Participants wear a fat suit.

OTHERControl Condition

Participants wear same clothing as intervention, but in their own size.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Participants had to be registered in the UCLA Department of Psychology Subject Pool.

Exclusion criteria

* No specific

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Eating behavior measured via grams of food consumed	~10-minutes post-manipulation	M&Ms, potato chips, and full-sugar soda consumption

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
Cortisol reactivity	~20 minutes post-manipulation
Antifat Attitudes measured via electronic questionnaire	~30 minutes after post-manipulation
Psychological Well-Being measured via electronic questionnaires	~15 minutes post-manipulation

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026