Cosmopoliton did a survey on body image with over 2000 respondents. The results, to me, were unsurprising but damning.
• 60% of women thought they were overweight where, in reality, 22.6% were over the recommended weight range and 24% were underweight.
• 68% thought slim women attracted more men and 47% though slim women were happier.
• only 12% were satisfied with their weight.
• one in eight have or have had a compulsive eating disorder.
• 55% know someone who has or has had anorexia and 45% know a bulimic.
• 18% vomited after a meal to lose weight, 27% used diet pills or laxatives and 50% skipped meals.
• 71% have been on a diet at some time, 13% have been on 10 or more diets in the past three years.
• 72% said that they felt models in magazines influenced their body image and 48% said women in movies.
MEDICAL STATISTICS
• The Framingham study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1991, found that the risk of dying from heart disease is 70% higher in those with fluctuating weights than in those whose weight remains stable, regardless of their initial weight, blood pressure, smoking habits, cholesterol level, or level of physical activity.
• Recent studies have found a direct link between osteoporosis and dieting. One study found that a single five month weight loss program resulted in "significant bone loss." Fat cells retain estrogen which helps maintain the calcium in the bones.
• If women drop below 15% body fat, they cannot menstruate and will begin to suffer from a wide range of estrogen deficiency illnesses including infertility.
• The Seven Country Study, the Framingham, Albany, Tecumseh, Chicago People's Gas, and Chicago Western Electric studies all found that people 20-40% over the recommended weight range lived the longest.
