Facts & Figures About Dieting & Weight Loss
* The average American woman is 5'4", weighs 140 lbs, and wears a size 14 dress.
* The "ideal" woman--portrayed by models, Miss America, Barbie dolls, and screen actresses--is 5'7", weighs 100 lbs, and wears a size 8.
* One-third of all American women wear a size 16 or larger.
* 75% of American women are dissatisfied with their appearance.
* 50% of American women are on a diet at any one time.
* Between 90% and 99% of reducing diets fail to produce permanent weight loss.
* Two-thirds of dieters regain the weight within one year. Virtually all regain it within five years.
* The diet industry (diet foods, diet programs, diet drugs, etc.) takes in over $40 billion each year, and is still growing.
* Quick-weight-loss schemes are among the most common consumer frauds, and diet programs have the highest customer dissatisfaction of any service industry.
* A recent survey found only 30 percent of 250 randomly chosen women age 21 to 35 had normal bone mass--the researchers concluded women are so afraid eating dairy products will make them gain weight that they are starving themselves into osteoporosis.
* Young girls are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of nuclear war, cancer, or losing their parents.
* 50% of 9-year-old girls and 80% of 10-year-old girls have dieted.
* 90% of high school junior and senior women diet regularly, even though only between 10% and 15% are over the weight recommended by the standard height-weight charts.
* 1% of teenage girls, and 5% of college-age women become anorexic or bulimic.
* Anorexia has the highest mortality rate (up to 20%) of any psychiatric diagnosis.
* Girls develop eating and self-image problems before drug or alcohol problems; there are drug and alcohol programs in almost every school, but no eating disorder programs.
This information is a public service of Largesse, the Network for Size Esteem [http://www.largesse.net/] and may be freely copied and distributed in its entirety for non-commercial use in promoting size diversity empowerment, provided this statement is included.
* The average American woman is 5'4", weighs 140 lbs, and wears a size 14 dress.
* The "ideal" woman--portrayed by models, Miss America, Barbie dolls, and screen actresses--is 5'7", weighs 100 lbs, and wears a size 8.
* One-third of all American women wear a size 16 or larger.
* 75% of American women are dissatisfied with their appearance.
* 50% of American women are on a diet at any one time.
* Between 90% and 99% of reducing diets fail to produce permanent weight loss.
* Two-thirds of dieters regain the weight within one year. Virtually all regain it within five years.
* The diet industry (diet foods, diet programs, diet drugs, etc.) takes in over $40 billion each year, and is still growing.
* Quick-weight-loss schemes are among the most common consumer frauds, and diet programs have the highest customer dissatisfaction of any service industry.
* A recent survey found only 30 percent of 250 randomly chosen women age 21 to 35 had normal bone mass--the researchers concluded women are so afraid eating dairy products will make them gain weight that they are starving themselves into osteoporosis.
* Young girls are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of nuclear war, cancer, or losing their parents.
* 50% of 9-year-old girls and 80% of 10-year-old girls have dieted.
* 90% of high school junior and senior women diet regularly, even though only between 10% and 15% are over the weight recommended by the standard height-weight charts.
* 1% of teenage girls, and 5% of college-age women become anorexic or bulimic.
* Anorexia has the highest mortality rate (up to 20%) of any psychiatric diagnosis.
* Girls develop eating and self-image problems before drug or alcohol problems; there are drug and alcohol programs in almost every school, but no eating disorder programs.
This information is a public service of Largesse, the Network for Size Esteem [http://www.largesse.net/] and may be freely copied and distributed in its entirety for non-commercial use in promoting size diversity empowerment, provided this statement is included.
Comments