title: Ideals versus reality: Are weight ideals associated with weight change in the population?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To quantify weight ideals of young adults and to examine whether the discrepancy between actual and ideal weight is associated with 10-year body mass index (BMI) change in the population.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study comprised 4,964 adults from the prospective population-based FinnTwin16 study. They reported their actual and ideal body weight at age 24 (range 22-27) and 10 years later (attrition 24.6%). The correlates of discrepancy between actual and ideal body weight and the impact on subsequent BMI change were examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The discrepancy between actual and ideal weight at 24 years was on average 3.9 kg (1.4 kg/m(2) ) among women and 1.2 kg (0.4 kg/m(2) ) among men. On average, participants gained weight during follow-up irrespective of baseline ideal weight: women ¯x = +4.8 kg (1.7 kg/m(2) , 95% CI 1.6-1.9 kg/m(2) ), men ¯x = +6.3 kg (2.0 kg/m(2) , 95% CI 1.8-2.1 kg/m(2) ). Weight ideals at 24 years were not correlated with 10-year weight change. At 34 years, just 13.2% of women and 18.9% of men were at or below the weight they had specified as their ideal weight at 24 years. Women and men adjusted their ideal weight upward over time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Irrespective of ideal weight at baseline, weight gain was nearly universal. Weight ideals were shifted upward over time.
authors: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors: Ulla
authors: U
authors: Kärkkäinen
authors: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors: Linda
authors: L
authors: Mustelin
authors: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.|Department of Adolescent Psychiatry, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland.|Institute of Clinical Medicine, Child Psychiatry, University of Turku, Finland.|Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors: Anu
authors: A
authors: Raevuori
authors: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.|Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.|Institute for Molecular Medicine FIMM, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors: Jaakko
authors: J
authors: Kaprio
authors: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.|Department of Psychiatry, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Keski-Rahkonen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001837:Body Weights and Measures / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D056865:Ideal Body Weight; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015430:Weight Gain; D055815:Young Adult