Being overweight is a curse not just on a woman's health, but on her entire life, a new study has found.
Researchers have discovered that overweight women are more likely to lose their jobs, be a victim of crime and have money troubles. They are are more likely to be criminals themselves.
To make matters worse, because of these stressful life events, they are driven to comfort-eating which only perpetuates the problem, increasing the probability that they will be unluckier still.
It is already known that stress can lead to obesity but this research now shows that the overweight also suffer the most stress.
The study, carried out by the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut studied 41,218 adults who had completed detailed records of their lives in which each had kept a year-long diary showing when they had suffered the most stress.
The results, which appear in the journal Preventive Medicine, showed that those who were obese experienced more "stressful life events".
According to the study, obese women were more likely to face the death of a friend or relative, be sacked or made redundant or face financial troubles.
However, the workplace was where women experienced the highest level of stress, saying that they felt more discriminated against than their overweight male colleagues.
In the study, obese men did suffer more than slim men, but the difference was much greater in women.
One of the researchers, Nancy Petry, said: "Stress can lead to obesity. But the opposite is also true with the seriously overweight suffering the most stress by contributing to poor health or social factors like workplace discrimination."
On a positive note, the study did show that overweight women in relationships were less likely than slim women and all men to break up from a long-term partner or get divorced.
