Weight Loss Survey for Women: Results for 2019 and Beyond

How do you feel about your weight loss efforts? This is the question we sought to answer with a recently performed weight loss survey. Here is our weight loss survey for women: results for 2019 and beyond.

We run an online fitness program for women, Faithful Finish Lines. Both Becky and I, who lead the program, have lost 100 pounds and have been maintaining it for years. Together, we offer courses and small group support to help Christian women stay on track with their weight loss, physical activity, and healthy eating goals.

Our goal is to continually improve the services we provide and in order to do that, we took a deep look into what women are currently thinking and feeling when it comes to their weight loss efforts.

We sought to find out:

• What’s working with weight loss for women?
• What isn’t working?
• What do they need most when it comes to losing weight?

About the Weight Loss Survey for Women

Our survey was available for a week during November of 2018 and was available through a blog post on The Holy Mess website and a pop-up opt in form. We also emailed our list and shared on social media. We offered a $25 Amazon gift certificate to one winner as a thank you for those who completed our survey. (Congratulations to Mary H. who was the winner.)

The survey had 590 participants. While this might be a small number compared to some larger surveys, the results are still significant and the individual answers fascinating.

If you took the survey, thank you! Take a look and see if your answers are like those of other women. We saw many similar answers, so I’m sure you’ll find overlap with how you responded. At times weight loss can feel like a lonely journey, but you are not alone.

Be sure to join our Christian Weight Loss Facebook group for additional support.

To read more about overall trends in the weight loss industry as we move into 2019, click here.

Weight Loss Survey for Women: Results for 2019 and Beyond

Here’s what we learned from our survey about women and weight loss. Scroll all the way to the bottom where I share conclusions and final thoughts.

1. On a scale of 1 to 5, how satisfied are you with your current weight?

1 = Deeply UNSATISFIED

5 = Deeply SATISFIED

 

 

 

 

Here is how women answered the question, “On a scale of 1 to 5, how satisfied are you with your current weight?”

• Deeply unsatisfied – 52.2%
• Unsatisfied – 24.3%
• Somewhat Satisfied – 13.6%
• Satisfied – 5.9%
• Deeply satisfied – 3.91%

Most women expressed being deeply unsatisfied with their current weight. This makes sense because the survey was marketed to women who are interested in losing weight. These findings do not reflect women a whole (although that would be interesting to explore.)

2. How many pounds do you want to lose in order to be at your goal weight?

The average amount of weight women want to lose is 49 pounds.

The survey was designed with a slider where women could choose an option on a sliding scale of 0-100+ pounds. In retrospect, I wish we would have changed this question to allow for women to enter any amount of weight.

Because the survey only went up to 100+ pounds, I think we would have seen different results if we had a higher number of pounds available as an option.

Click here to see further results for this question.

3. What programs or products are you currently using to assist your weight loss efforts? (Check all that apply.)

When asked what programs or products women are currently using for weight loss, these were their responses:

• My Fitness Pal or other calorie tracking apps – 33.3%
• Websites and blogs – 32%
• Weight Watchers – 27.2%
• Gym membership or other fitness activities – 26%
• Specific eating program (Paleo, Keto, Trim Healthy Mama) – 16.8%
• Weight loss medication – 3.75%
• Specific weight loss foods such as bars, meal replacement shakes, and frozen meals – 9.71%
• Healthy recipes I find in books and online – 52.3%
• Faithful Finish Lines online courses – 14.4%
• Other (please specify) – 24.8%

We were not surprised by the high results for apps and websites. As our world becomes more mobile, women want options that are available for their busy life.

Because I write about Weight Watchers on my website and recommend it because of my own 100 pound weight loss success, I was actually surprised that Weight Watchers was not higher on the list of chosen programs for this particular survey.

For write-in results, some of the top answers were:

• Keto
• Walking and other exercise
• Nothing
• Plexus
• Fitbit
• Prayer
• Noom (Watch my video review of Noom here.)

4. What options are you considering using in the future to help with your weight loss efforts? (Check all that apply.)

When asked what women plan to use in the future for weight loss, these were their responses:

• Join a gym. – 19.9%
• Meet with my doctor. – 14.6%
• Start a weight loss program such as Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, etc. – 15%
• Try a new eating program such as Paleo, Keto, or counting calories. – 30.2%
• Meal delivery service such as Blue Apron or Sunbasket. – 5%
• Hire a personal trainer. – 7.85%
• Other (please specify) – 38.2%

Women wrote in a number of responses for ways they plan to lose weight in the future. These were some of the top responses that were written in:

• Exercise
• Continue what I’m doing
• Nothing
• Weight Watchers
• Noom

5. What roadblocks most get in the way of your weight loss success? (Check all that apply.)

When asked about the roadblocks that get in the way of weight loss success:

• I don’t have enough time for exercise. – 26.8%
• I don’t have enough time to shop for and prepare healthy foods. – 19.3%
• I am addicted to sugary foods. – 46%
• I eat for emotional reasons. – 58%
• I have physical issues that inhibit weight loss. – 21%
• I binge eat or overeat compulsively. – 30.3%
• I don’t have the money to invest in exercise programs or healthy foods. – 23%
• I consider myself addicted to food. – 23.6%
• I don’t like the taste of healthy foods. – 6.2%
• My family or friends sabotage my weight loss efforts. – 16.4%
• There are too many weight loss options and conflicting advice. – 16.9%
• Other (please specify) – 20.2%

For “other” women listed the following roadblocks they have to weight loss success:

• Hormone and thyroid issues
• Depression
• Too lazy
• Give in to temptation
• Family get togethers with food
• Night eating
• Pregnancies and breastfeeding
• Dislike exercise

In this category, many women listed specific physical issues in the “other” category such as low thyroid function, arthritis and other conditions that inhibit exercise.

Social situations and relationships (especially with a spouse who is not supportive or does not like healthy foods) were also common answers.

Finally lack of will-power and motivation were mentioned frequently.

6. On a scale of 1 to 5, how do you value faith as part of your weight loss efforts?

1 = Faith is NOT important

5 = Faith is MOST important

When asked about the importance of combining weight loss and faith, survey respondents answered:

• Faith is not important – 1.7%
• Faith has little importance – 2.73%
• Faith is somewhat important – 20.1%
• Faith is important – 27.9%
• Faith is most important – 47.53%

This question is perhaps unique to our survey, as most weight loss programs do not focus on spirituality. However, because our Faithful Finish Lines program focuses on weight loss for Christian women, we wanted to gauge the importance of this aspect for our audience.

We recognize that these answers are not typical of the general population of women who want to lose weight.

We found that for our readers, combining faith and weight loss is highly valuable.

7. If you could have your own personal weight loss coach 24/7 to keep you accountable, what would you have that person do for you?

With this question, our goal was to see where women most want practical help and accountability for weight loss.

This was perhaps the most insightful and interesting question of the survey. For a fun visual of women’s answers, go to the Survey Monkey Weight Loss for Women report by clicking here. At the bottom, you can easily scroll through the individual answers.

Here were general categories of answers that reflect the type of comments made most often when asked if they could have a coach available 24/7:

• Tell me what to eat or not eat, give me meal plans, prepare food for me – 30.8%
• Make me exercise – 16%
• Help me with all of it – 16%
• Encourage/motivate me – 13%

Here is a sampling of answers:

Honestly, what I need is an accountability partner that is not going to just say “oh, well, no big deal” when I fall off the wagon and will stay committed to keeping me accountable long term.

Encourage me in a positive way to exercise and help me find “fun” ways to do it.

Have meals ready for me.

Listen and advise when I’m struggling.

8. Do you plan to set a New Year’s resolution in regard to weight loss?

As we close out this year and move into the new one, our survey sought to gauge women’s feelings about weight loss and the new year. Would they set New Year’s resolutions to lose weight?

Here were their answers regarding weight loss and New Year’s resolutions:

• Yes, I typically set a New Year goal or resolution to lose weight. – 15.1%
• My goal is to lose weight in the New Year, but I don’t set New Year’s resolutions. – 53.6%
• I will not set a goal to lose weight in the New Year. – 22.7%
• Other – 14%

When women chose “other” and wrote in answers, these were the top responses:

• I set a goal to lose weight but not at the new year.
• I have already started working on my goal and will continue in the new year.
• I don’t set New Year’s resolutions.
• I have given up.

Weight Loss Survey Conclusions

Regarding the survey results as a whole, women who need to lose weight will continue to search for solutions to this difficult problem. Many have tried or are currently trying a number of programs to assist with weight loss. Programs that are mobile-friendly, as as My Fitness Pal, are popular and will continue to be popular going into 2019.

While many women we surveyed are currently using or plan to use programs and products to assist with weight loss, we learned that many others have given up in frustration. The feeling that they’ve tried and failed weighs heavily on them.

Common road blocks to weight loss success are emotional eating, addiction to sugar, binge eating, physical health issues, and friends and family who are not supportive of a healthy lifestyle.

Many women feel that continued support with healthy meal planning would help them lose weight, as well as motivation to exercise.

Finally, while some women from our survey will set New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, the majority have become disillusioned with New Years resolutions or do not use the first of the year as a starting point for weight loss efforts.

How do you feel about weight loss as we head into 2019? Share in the comments below.

 

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