July 25 2006: The Weight Foundation now has findings on c.500 dieters (including data collected from before the formal creation of The Weight Foundation) who would classify themselves as Hardcore Dieters as per The Hardcore Dieting Index.

The chief findings to date are that committed Swinger Dieters are making up c.40% of the total, with Flatliners outnumbering Lifers about 35% to 25% accounting for the remainder.

Inevitably there are overlap situations where dieters are showing characteristics of more than one of the categories and in these kinds of cases we are simply using our best judgement to place individuals into the more prevalent category. Like all statistics, these numbers show a general picture and cannot be accurate to the final %point.

However, the pattern is bearing out The Weight Foundation's rolling understanding that:

1. We live in a society where, increasingly and particularly for many women, relationships with food and eating are ruptured from what is healthy and relaxed.

2. The need to "be in the game of dieting" pulls women into dieting lifestyles (this kind of process of cultural compulsion can otherwise be known as "social construction", or "normalisation".)

3. Traditional notions that the primary or sole purpose that people diet is to lose weight (although it is increasingly recognised that this is not, on its own, a particularly effective course of action) need to be superseded by an understanding of the cultural and emotional pressures that can also drive the dieting lifestyle.