[Effectiveness, strategies and successes in weight loss in function of anthropometric parameters].
OBJECTIVE
To find the variability in women's appearance at three moments of their life cycle and its relationship with practices aiming at weight loss, analysing the efficacy of this behaviour.


METHODS
Cross-sectional.


METHODS
Women from the Community of Madrid who formed part of an investigation by the Unit of Anthropology of the Department of Biology of the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) into perception of image and associated behaviour as a function of age, body mass index, and social and economic conditions.


METHODS
535 women in three age groups: 200 adolescents belonging to two secondary schools in Madrid; 202 university students from the Biology Faculty of the UAM, and 135 women aged between 45 and 65 and living in the Madrid area of Alcobendas, who were taking part in a women's health programme run by the Alcobendas town council.


METHODS
Information was collected on body measurements, self-perception and image assessment, with perception indicators and body form indicators contrasted.


RESULTS
There were a great many attempts to lose weight by adolescents and women over 45, with the starting age for such practices much earlier in the adolescents' and students' groups. It was particularly striking that 44% of the adolescents within the thin category had tried to lose weight. Among the students and women over 45 this percentage rose in consonance with their overweight. The older women were more effective at losing weight, but it was very difficult for them to maintain this loss. The speed of weight loss was higher in women with higher body mass index.


CONCLUSIONS
Physical appearance varies between young women and women over 45, in that the former are taller, thinner and with a straighter figure. Despite this, young women develop behaviour designed to lose weight much more often than older women, with an earlier starting age and more rapidly, which can have serious health consequences.
Barroso Benítez
A
A
Departamento de Biología, Unidad de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias, UAM, 28049 Madrid. azucena.barroso@uam.es
González Lozano
M B
MB
Arias Careaga
S
S
Bernis Carro
C
C
Montero López
P
P
Varea González
C
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000886:Anthropometry; D001823:Body Composition; D001835:Body Weight; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012424:Rural Population; D013030:Spain; D013997:Time Factors; D014505:Urban Population; D015431:Weight Loss
Efectividad, estrategias y éxitos en la pérdida de peso en función de parámetros antropométricos.