Women 'spend £150,000 on diets'

Women expect to spend more than £150,000 during their lifetime on dieting and getting in shape, according to a poll.

Gym memberships, exercise DVDs, supplements and extra fruit and veg all cost an average of £2,422 a year, it found.

Over her lifetime, a woman would spend an average of £150,164 yet only loses up to 3lb a year, most of which she puts back on. Each pound in weight therefore would cost £807 to lose.

The survey of 2,000 young women, who had an average age of 23, also found worrying trends on tactics to lose weight.

One in 10 women said they have lost half a stone in a week and 6% claim to have lost a stone in two weeks.

More than half (53%) of those questioned said a diet to them meant eating less than 1,000 calories a day and a fifth (20%) said it was eating less than 800 calories a day.

A third (34%) have taken slimming pills to lose weight, 30% make themselves sick and 11% have taken speed or cocaine to step up their metabolism.

Nine in 10 (90%) have gone at least a day without eating, with 30% of those going two or more days without food and 7% going more than four days without.

A fifth (20%) have followed a pattern of having an "eat day" followed by a "non-eat day" and 47% claim to only eat one meal a day.

The survey, for More magazine, found eight out of 10 women want to be a size 10 or under, with 40% thinking a size 10 is perfect.

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