Diet Triggers: Who’s That Whale In The Picture?
As the summer holidays got underway many of us were eager to get our ‘beach bodies’ ready for their annual exposure, however new findings reveal that it could be the holiday snaps that are a real motivation to hit the gym and start a new diet. While many of us may start out with the best intentions, one in ten cannot even manage to follow a diet for a whole month (10%).
Furthermore, the study by Opinium Research discovered that, other than feeling unhealthy/overweight (66%) the next most common trigger to start a diet is seeing a bad photo of yourself (36%).
Other causes differ between men and women such as a bad shopping trip, where clothes don’t fit as well as you’d like, affects a third of females (32%) but only influences 6% of men.
|
Triggers for women to diet |
Triggers for men to diet |
|
Bad shopping trip (32%) |
Bad photo (22%) |
|
Upcoming holiday (25%) |
Upcoming holiday (13%) |
|
Upcoming event e.g. school reunion/ wedding (18%) |
Pressure from family to get fitter (9%) |
|
Pressure from society/ media to fit in (14%) |
Pressure from partner to get fitter (8%) |
|
Wanting to impress a love interest or ex partner (11%) |
Impress an ex / potential partner (8%) |
| Pressure from family to lose weight (8%) |
New Year’s resolution (8%) |
The study reveals that almost two thirds of women in the UK have dieted (63%), compared to just over a third of men (36%). While there may be various reasons behind starting a diet, only five per cent of dieting Brits stick to them without exceptions! Staggeringly, just over a quarter of dieters make exceptions to their regime every weekend (27%) and one in ten can’t cope with their self-imposed rules when they are hungover (10%). The top five circumstances where diets fall to the wayside are:
- At events e.g. parties, Christmas, weddings (34%)
- When you feel stressed, tired or upset (30%)
- When you’re on holiday (30%)
- At weekends (27%)
- When you don’t have enough money to afford the correct food (11%)
“If you choose to lose some weight or get fit, the key is to change your lifestyle and attitudes which are reflected in a healthier diet – not to yo-yo with crash diets every time you see a bad photo of yourself,” says Kate Norfolk, head of healthcare research at Opinium.
“Even if there are no medical concerns remember exercise is also an important tool in getting fit and by getting a balance between an active lifestyle and good diet, you can always reward yourself with a few treats!”
