No matter how much weight you manage to shed, you'll always be fat in your friends' eyes, according to an international study.

The study found that friends and family continue to see women who have lost weight as greedy and lazy, labeling her as overweight long after she has dropped excess weight.

Combined research conducted by the University of Hawaii, the University of Manchester and Monash University, Melbourne found that people are harsher about women who they know has had difficulty with their weight in the past.

The study asked 273 participants to indicate what they thought about five different women. They were given pictures of each women and a short write-up of their history. One woman had been slim her whole life, another had been overweight, while three more had lost around 30 kilograms in and were now considered at normal weight.

Volunteers typically found the woman who they knew had been slim all her life most attractive, whilst making negative comments around those women who had a history of being overweight.

"Obesity stigma is so powerful and enduring that it may even outlast the obesity itself," noted Janet Latner of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Kerry O’Brien of Manchester University noted that this prejudice could only impact on people negatively and it should be changed to help those who struggle with their weight to look on weight loss more positively.