Self-reported dieting experiences of women with body mass indexes of 30 or more

Abstract Self-reported information on dieting experiences of 149 women with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 to 70 was gathered to refute the notion that obese women have made few serious attempts to lose weight and to see whether women with higher BMIs report more frequent dieting than women with lower BMIs. Participants completed questionnaires about lifetime dieting experiences and provided demographic information, including heights and weights. Statistical comparisons among categorical variables were made using χ 2 tests. Women with higher BMIs tended to start dieting before age 14 ( P P