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Thursday, Aug 12, 2010 11:30 PM UTC

Women put weight before sex

A study finds more than half would rather give up sex than put on pounds

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Topics: Sex, Broadsheet, Love and Sex,

Women put weight before sex

More than half of women, and 25 percent of men, would opt for a summer without sex over gaining 10 pounds, according to new research. The study of over 1,000 people was funded by — whaddaya know — the weight loss system Nutrisystem. It’s a canny marketing move: Highlight the extreme lengths people will go to just to lose weight and then present a simple alternative: the Nutrisystem diet! Easy peasy.

Of course, it is rarely all that easy (let alone peasy) when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off (hence the general desperation to do so). Behind the high-gloss advertising sheen, I suspect these findings hint at how tightly body image is tied to sex, especially for women. Note that 66 percent of Americans feel they need to lose weight (an average of 23 pounds) to feel sexier. Of course people would opt for a sexless summer over gained weight; if they gained that weight, just how randy would they be feeling, anyway?

Tracy Clark-Flory

Tracy Clark-Flory is a staff writer at Salon. Follow @tracyclarkflory on Twitter and Facebook. More Tracy Clark-Flory.

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