Israelis want to lose weight, but are not willing to do much about it: A new survey reveled that more than 50% of the public define themselves as overweight, while over a third do not exercise and 70% just can't seem to be able to stick to a diet for too long.
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| Over third of Israel's kids overweight / Meital Yasur-Beit Or |
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Seven-year study shows 36% of 10-year-olds overweight. In most cases, children with excessive weight at age of three remain that way at ages six and 10 |
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The poll was conducted by the Center for Academic Studies in Or Yehuda among 510 respondents from throughout the country.
Asked how friends or families defined them, 18% of respondents replied "fat" and 51% said they are considered as having "curves in the right places." About a quarter of respondents said that even as children they felt chubby and wanted to lose weight. A similar number of respondents said that their weight problems started with puberty.
More than half of the respondents said that they preferred eating mostly in the evening, a quarter said that they usually like eating at noon, 11% follow the saying that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day," while 7% stated that their favorite time for eating was late at night.
The survey also found that 44% eat when they are distressed or under pressure. A similar number decided to start a diet more than three times in the last year. A third of the respondents managed to stick to their diet for no more than two-three days, another third between a week and a month, and 20% held out for as long as six months.
Only 10% of those polled succeeded in holding on to their diet for more than a year.
Another grim finding showed that very few Israelis exercise on a regular basis, with 37% saying they do not exercise at all. Another third said they have regular fitness walks twice a week. Some 20% have joined a gym but did not bother visiting it, or cancelled their subscription altogether.
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