What You Said About Dieting

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More than 700 of you took our diet poll. This is what you told us:

How many diets have you tried in the last year?
None: 30%
1: 31%
2-3: 25%
4-5: 6%
More: 7%

How many diets have you tried in your life?
None: 7%
1-5: 52%
6-20: 28%
21-40: 8%
More: 5%

How much weight did you lose on your most successful diet?
5 pounds: 19%
10: 26%
25: 33%
50 or more: 22%

How much of the weight did you keep off?
All of it: 25%
Part of it: 39%
None of it: 31%
I never lost weight in the first place: 5%

Which celebrity has inspired you to lose weight?
Marie Osmond: 11%
Queen Latifah: 18%
Valerie Bertinelli: 26%
Kirstie Alley: 15%
Oprah Winfrey: 30%

Why have you quit a diet?
I achieved my goal: 27%
I was too hungry: 10%
It cost too much: 6%
It took too long to see results: 19%
It was too hard to maintain: 30%
Three words: Ben & Jerry’s: 7%

What was the scariest diet fad you’ve ever tried?
Detox/cleansing: 5%
Phen-fen: 8%
Over-the-counter diet pills: 21%
Limiting calories to 1000 per day: 28%
Bingeing and purging: 12%
Fasting: 26%

Which diet sounds the most appealing to you?
No-hunger diet: 58%
Eat-carbs diet: 13%
Eat-sweets diet: 12%
No-exercise diet: 18%

How much money would you spend if you could guarantee you’d lose 30 pounds and keep it off?
$100 62%
$500 18%
$1,000 15%
$10,000 3%
$100,000 or more: 3%

Source: Health.com web poll Oct. – Dec. 2008