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Senior Citizens Among the Least Interested in Losing
Weight
Most Americans want to lose weight but only 43% of
older men
 March
10, 2006 – Surgeon General Richard Carmona last week issued dire
warnings about overweight Americans, saying the threat from obesity
"will dwarf 9-11." His alarm may not have been heard by many senior
citizens, who are among the least likely to be interested in losing
weight. The only group, in fact, less interested in losing weight than
senior men or young men between the ages of 18 and 29, according to a
new Gallup Poll.
Government statistics indicate that about 30% of
American adults can be classified as obese.
The recent Gallup Poll shows that 56% of Americans
say they want to lose weight, including 18% who want to lose "a lot" of
weight. Another 39% say they want to stay at their current level, while
just 4% are trying to gain weight.
The desire to lose weight among age groups shows a
bell pattern, increasing until high middle-age, and then declining
thereafter.
Forty-five percent of people under 30 express that
desire, compared with 60% in the 30 to 49 age group, and 65% in the 50
to 64 age group. After that, the decline begins -- 55% of the 65 to 74
age group want to lose weight, compared with 40% among people 75 and
older.
As expected, the poll shows that women of all ages
are more likely than men to want to lose weight, 49% vs. 63%,
respectively.
But the difference comes mostly in the number who
want to lose "a lot" of weight -- 12% of men vs. 24% of women. About the
same number of men (37%) want to lose "a little" weight as women (39%).
The gender gap on this issue remains sizable across
the age groups, as the bell pattern applies to both men and women. The
gap ranges from 10 points in the 65 and older age group to 18 points in
the 30 to 49 age group. (See chart at top of page.)
People who want to lose weight are more likely to
choose exercising over dieting to shed their pounds, but the percentage
varies by how ambitious they are. If their goal is to lose only a little
weight, people are evenly divided between exercise and diet as the
preferred method -- 49% choose each. If they want to lose a lot,
however, they are more than twice as likely to favor exercise (67%) over
dieting (30%).
 Still,
among people who want to lose a lot of weight, more than half -- 55% --
say they engaged in less than three hours of strenuous physical exercise
in the previous week, including 33% who did no exercise at all.
One extreme method of losing weight is to undergo
bariatric surgery, such as gastric bypass, gastric banding, and other
stomach surgeries. According to a Web site that compiles statistics on
these types of surgeries, typically, people who elect this procedure
weigh about 300 pounds and are in their late 30s. While the incidence of
this type of surgery rose by 600% in the decade from 1993 to 2003, it
still remains a relatively infrequent procedure. The Gallup survey shows
that just 1% of people who are trying to lose a lot of weight would
"definitely" elect this surgery, and another 1% say they might be
interested. Still, while 62% of this group say they would "never" have
this surgery, 36% indicate they might consider it as a last resort.
As you may know, some people have had surgery to
reduce the size of their stomach as a means of losing weight. Which of
the following best describes you -- [ROTATED: you would definitely like
to have this surgery, you might be interested in having it but don't
know for sure, you would only consider having it as a last resort, (or)
you would never have this surgery]?
|
|
Definitely
like to have surgery |
Might be interested |
Only
as last resort |
Never
have this surgery |
No
opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
|
All who
want to lose |
2 |
1 |
20 |
75 |
2 |
|
Want to
lose a lot |
1 |
1 |
36 |
62 |
3 |
Survey Methods
Results are based on telephone
interviews with 1,000 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Feb.
9-12, 2006. For results based on the total sample of national adults,
one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling
error is ±3 percentage points.
For results based on the 492 national
adults in the Form A half-sample and 508 national adults in the Form B
half-sample, the maximum margins of sampling error are ±5 percentage
points. For results based on the sample of 564 adults who would like to
lose weight, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage
points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical
difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the
findings of public opinion polls.
Click here to the Gallup Report
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