35% Say They’re Overweight
While most Americans say they are not overweight now, over half admit to dieting at one point in their life.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 35% of American Adults believe they’re overweight. But 57% don't think they weigh more than they’re supposed to. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
The number of Americans who claim to be overweight is down six points from early July 2009, when 41% said they had extra pounds on themselves.
Fifty-three percent (53%) say they’ve dieted to lose weight, down slightly from April of last year. Forty-five percent (45%) have never been on a diet.
Eighty-four percent (84%) of adults say they pay at least somewhat close attention to what they eat to make sure they have a balanced diet. That’s up from 77% in April 2010. Fourteen percent (14%) say they don’t monitor their eating habits closely. These findings includes 38% who watch their diet Very Closely and just one percent who don't pay any attention to it at all.
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The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on August 22-23, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
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