19pc women give up diets after 5 weeks, 2 days and 43 mins
London, Feb 12 : Women tend to give up diets after an average of five weeks, two days and 43 minutes, a new research has revealed.
While one in seven (13 percent) women in Britain stick to a diet for 13 weeks or more, nearly one in four (19 percent) succumb to their favourite food cravings after a month, the Daily Mail reported.
Perhaps surprisingly, nearly one in ten women (8 percent) lose the willpower to carry on dieting after just one week and 16 percent give up after a fortnight.
Women from the East Midlands and the south-east stick longest to a diet at an average of six weeks, while those from the north-west and Northern Ireland will ditch their diets quickest at an average of four weeks.
The research among 1,000 women found that the average age for a first diet is 26 years, but one in three women (33 percent) started a slimming regime between the ages of 15 and 20.
A typical British woman will go on a diet 2.7 times a year, but more than one in ten (12 percent) will slim for up to five times in a year.
Women said that the most popular reason for losing weight was being shocked at seeing themselves in a photograph or catching a glimpse of themselves in a shop window.
The study of women's dietary habits was commissioned by sugar substitute brand Splenda, whose Small Steps campaign aims to get people to reduce the amount of sugar in their diets.
Nearly a third of women have actually put weight on during a diet, with the average weight gain 3.9lbs.
Six in ten women (59 percent) said food cravings make diets difficult, followed by "simply loving food" (42 percent) and feeling depressed (30 percent).
Other factors which make diets difficult include cooking and shopping for the rest of the family, going out to dinner and slimming on your own.