Also a quarter of women (24%) want to lose weight for an upcoming holiday, compared to only one in six men (16%).
Lack of will power is the biggest diet downfall (37%), followed by hunger (36%) and boredom (29%), with women the most likely to report lack of willpower as a problem. But most adults underestimate the effort required to burn off calories. The average woman would have to walk for almost an hour to burn off the calories in an energy bar, but two out of three (67%) thought it would take 30 minutes or less and 21% thought it would take no more than 15 minutes.
Cravings are another challenge, and our survey found that these build up during the day and are far more likely to be a problem in the evening (38%) compared to in the morning (7%) or mid-morning (13%).
More than half (56%) found social occasions centered around food were difficult when they were dieting, with one in six (17%) missing social occasions rather than risk temptation.