Dieters fall off the weight wagon

A record one in five people made a New Year's resolution to diet from January 1 but a quarter fell off the weight wagon within 24 hours, said a survey out today.

More than a third of UK dieters abandoned their efforts within the first week of 2001, the poll for low-calorie bread manufacturer Nimble found.

Women are more likely to cave in to their cravings, with half of females failing to stick to their weight-reducing resolutions compared with one in three men.

Even dieters with more willpower did not have the success they may have wished for, with one in three who kept to their plans for three weeks not shedding weight.

A spokeswoman for Nimble said: "New Year means New You for many people, but too often we put ourselves under enormous pressure to make drastic changes to our weight through short-term dieting rather than planning long-term weight control."

1,000 adults in the UK were interviewed in the survey by Phonebus for Taylor Nelson Sofres.

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