Two-Thirds Of Women Over 50 Don’t Like Their Bodies

What do women want? That mystery remains unsolved, but researchers at the University of North Carolina can tell you what women over 50 don’t want: their bodies. A UNC news release reports that when researchers surveyed 1,849 women from across the U.S. participating in the Gender and Body Image Study (GABI) for a survey titled, ‘Body Image in Women 50 and Over – Tell Us What You Think and Feel,’ they found that eating disorder symptoms were common. About 8 percent of women reported purging in the last five years and 3.5 percent reported binge eating in the last month. These behaviors were most prevalent in women in their early 50s, but also occurred in women over 75. When it came to weight issues, about 36 percent of the women reported spending at least half their time in the last five years dieting, 41 percent checked their body daily and 40 percent weighed themselves a couple of times a week or more. 62 percent of women claimed that their weight or shape negatively impacted their life, 79 percent said that it affected their self-perception and 64 percent said that they thought about it daily. The women reported resorting to a variety of unhealthy methods to change their body, including diet pills (7.5 percent), excessive exercise (7 percent), diuretics (2.5 percent), laxatives (2 percent) and vomiting (1 percent). Two-thirds, 66 percent, were unhappy with their overall appearance and this was highest when it came to their stomach, 84 percent, and shape 73 percent.