Most overweight people don't aim for slim: study
Fri Nov 23, 11:16 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Most overweight people want to trim down but aren't looking to shed enough pounds to put them in a healthy weight range, suggesting larger body sizes are becoming more acceptable, according to a new study.
Researchers from New York's Cornell University assessed the current and ideal body weight of 310 college students in a survey and then determined the corresponding body mass indexes.
They found nearly 90 percent of normal-weight women wanted to weigh less, with most desiring a body weight that still fell within the normal-weight range.
Overweight women also wanted to shed a few pounds, but for half of them the body weight they wished remained in the overweight range.
The results were more varied among the men. But for the overweight group who wanted to weigh less, 59 percent would still have an unhealthy body weight when at their ideal weight.
"This study suggests there may be a shift toward accepting, for normal-weight women, normal healthy body weight, as well as potentially larger body sizes," said researcher Lori Neighbors, who worked with Jeffery Sobal of Cornell on the study. More...
Fri Nov 23, 11:16 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Most overweight people want to trim down but aren't looking to shed enough pounds to put them in a healthy weight range, suggesting larger body sizes are becoming more acceptable, according to a new study.
Researchers from New York's Cornell University assessed the current and ideal body weight of 310 college students in a survey and then determined the corresponding body mass indexes.
They found nearly 90 percent of normal-weight women wanted to weigh less, with most desiring a body weight that still fell within the normal-weight range.
Overweight women also wanted to shed a few pounds, but for half of them the body weight they wished remained in the overweight range.
The results were more varied among the men. But for the overweight group who wanted to weigh less, 59 percent would still have an unhealthy body weight when at their ideal weight.
"This study suggests there may be a shift toward accepting, for normal-weight women, normal healthy body weight, as well as potentially larger body sizes," said researcher Lori Neighbors, who worked with Jeffery Sobal of Cornell on the study. More...
