Curvy Kate Winslet has topped a national poll to find the perfect celebrity body of 2009.
The Oscar-winning actress, who has been praised for promoting a more realistic body shape, took the top spot with 16% of the overall votes - narrowly pipping shapely Kelly Brook into second place with 15%.
And super thin celebrities Victoria Beckham and Kate Moss finished bottom of the poll carried out with 2,000 respondents by Slimming World and YouGov, scoring just 1% each of the votes.
Former Casualty actress and Slimming World Woman of the Year, Rebecca Wheatley, who herself lost over 12 stone with the slimming club, believes this marks a shift in people’s perception of what is attractive – especially for women, with whom Winslet scored two thirds of her votes.
“It’s fantastic to see that finally women seem to be aspiring towards a healthy body shape that is realistic and achievable,” she says.
“Kate Winslet has always spoken out about the importance of accepting your body. After all, healthy women come in all sizes. It’s definitely a step forward that rather than persuading women to set their sights on being super thin, which can lead to misery when they fail to achieve their target, more celebrities are encouraging inner confidence and a positive body image and showing women how they can be happy with their shape. I found my positive body image at my Slimming World group, where you’re able to choose the weight you want to be without fear of judgement. I’m now a healthy size 12, and loving it.”
Dr Jacquie Lavin, Slimming World’s Head of Nutrition and Research, added: “It shows a positive shift that women are more likely to see Kate Winslet and Kelly Brook as the ideal body shape rather than Kate Moss or Victoria Beckham and perhaps suggests that it’s not being ‘skinny’ that’s most important to them anymore, it’s being healthy.
“However, there still remains a great deal of pressure on women to conform to an unrealistic ideal and our survey showed that a massive 85% of women are at least occasionally unhappy with their weight. By helping women to improve their self confidence and giving them the freedom to set the target weight that they feel most comfortable with, as we do at Slimming World, we can help thousands of women to discover their own perfect body shape – just like Rebecca Wheatley has.”
Perfect celebrity body table*
Kate Winslet – 16%
Kelly Brook – 15%
Halle Berry – 12%
Cheryl Cole – 10%
Beyonce – 6%
Megan Fox – 5%
Lily Allen – 4%
Keeley Hazell – 2%
Sienna Miller – 2%
Kate Moss – 1%
Jordan – 1%
Victoria Beckham – 1%
– Ends –
For further information please contact the Slimming World press office on 01773 546101, 01773 546039 or 01773 546037 or email: public.relations@slimming-world.com
* 25% respondents in the survey did not select a perfect celebrity body.
Rebecca Wheatley photograph (attached) must be credited to Matrix Photos. Other pictures of Rebecca are available on request.
Notes to Editors
· Slimming World is the largest and most advanced slimming organisation in the UK. Margaret Miles-Bramwell (OBE, FRSA) founded the company in 1969 and there are now 6,000 groups held weekly nationwide via a network of 2,500 Slimming World trained Consultants.
· The National Slimming Survey 2009 was conducted by Slimming World and YouGov and polled a nationally representative sample of 2,148 people about their weight, eating habits, activity levels, general health, relationships, career and family as well as their attitudes to weight and the issues surrounding it.
· In 2009 Slimming World celebrates its 40th Anniversary and four decades of helping people to lose weight without deprivation, guilt or hunger.
· 300,000 members attend Slimming World every week and achieve outstanding success.
· Members lose 17,857 stones every week: 2,551 stones every day, over 106 stones every hour, that’s 1stone 10 lbs lost every minute of every day with Slimming World.
· Slimming World pioneered Slimming World on Referral in the UK and actively supports the building of partnerships with the NHS and local authorities to develop effective strategies to manage overweight and obesity in the community. Slimming World works with university researchers and specialists in an active research programme to further knowledge of the causes and treatment of obesity.
· Slimming World’s healthy eating plan, Food Optimising, and the principles behind Slimming World’s philosophy are based on a deep understanding of the challenges faced by overweight people. Slimming World integrates practical, up-to-date dietary advice with a highly developed support system.
· Slimming World Consultants receive specific training in dietary aspects and the role of physical activity in weight control. The highly developed training focuses on facilitating behaviour change in a group environment, acknowledged by experts as being the most effective way to support long-term weight management.
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