Weight management

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.

• To lose weight is a greater concern for middle-aged men. 31% of men aged 40 to 64 years want to lose weight as compared to 14% of adolescents aged 10 to 17 years and 21% of men aged 18 to 39 years.
• Older men aged 65 and above more often want to keep their weight stable (58%) as compared to younger adults (38%) and adolescents (33%).
• Adolescent boys more often want to gain weight as compared to older men: 11% of boys aged 10 to 17 years want to gain weight compared to 3% of men aged 40 to 64 years and 2% of men aged 65 and above.
• Men become more worried about their weight when getting older. Adolescent boys (42%) worry less about their weight than adult men aged 18 to 39 (32%), men aged 40 to 64 (27%), and men aged 65 and above (16%).

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.

• Young and middle-aged adult women are more likely to want to lose weight. 41% of women aged 18 to 39 and 38% of women aged 40 to 64 want to lose weight compared to 20% of adolescent girls and 18% of older women aged 65 and above. 
• Older women more often want to keep their weight stable compared to younger women: 58% of women aged 65 years and above want to keep their weight stable compared to 37% of adolescent girls, 36% of adults aged 18 to 39 years, and 47% of adults aged 40 to 64 years.  
• Adolescent girls more often want to gain weight as compared to middle-aged women: 5% of adolescent girls want to gain weight compared to 1% of women aged 40 to 64 years.
• Adolescent girls worry less about their weight than adult women. 38 % of adolescent girls do not worry about their weight compared to 20% of women aged 18 to 39 years, 14% of women 40 to 64 years, and 20% of women 65 years and above.

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
• The education level is calculated at the household level by considering the highest diploma obtained by: (i) the respondents or their partner for adults (aged 18 years and above), or (ii) the father and mother (or carer, if applicable) for children and adolescents (aged 3 to 17 years). However, for simplicity, we refer to the education level of individuals rather than the education level of their households.

• Low-educated individuals have the same attitude towards weight loss as the highest educated (26%). 

   

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex and socioeconomic status.

• No remarkable differences were found in attitude towards weight.
• 28% of the Belgian population wants to lose weight, 44% wants to keep their weight stable; 4% want to gain weight and 24% do not worry about their weight.

• Adjusted = results weighted for season, age, sex and socioeconomic status, and adjusted according to age and sex based on linear regression model (using the Belgian population of 2022-2023 as reference).

• In 2022-2023, losing weight was a concern for 32% of individuals. This is similar to 2014-2015 (29%) but higher than in 2004 (19%). 
• In 2022-2023, 40% of the individuals wanted to keep their weight stable which is similar to 2014-2015 (45%) but higher compared to 2004 (26%).
• In 2022-2023, 4% of individuals wanted to gain weight which is higher than in 2004 (3%).
• In 2022-2023, 23% of individuals did not worry about their weight which is similar to 2014-2015 (23%) but much lower than in 2004 (52%). 

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.​
• Modifying the type of food eaten:  for example, this could mean consuming less sugar and fat-rich foods and, more fruits and vegetables, more water, and products with reduced sugar and fat content.​
• Unhealthy dietetic measures include smoking, use of laxatives, skipping meals, fasting (longer than 24 hours), and vomiting.
• Modifying the eating pattern implies changing the relative importance of meals, i.e. eating more in the morning than in the evening.
• Other methods include bariatric surgery and medication.

• Modifying the type of food eaten is the most commonly used method by men (95%) and women (94%) who want to lose weight.
• Increasing physical activity is the second most commonly used method to lose weight, although it is more practiced by men (62%) than women (48% ). 
• Professional supervision (10% respectively 6%) and use of weight loss products (3% respectively 5%) are less popular methods to lose weight in both men and women.

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
• Modifying the type of food eaten: e.g., this could mean consuming less sugar and fat rich foods and, more fruits and vegetables, more water, and products with reduced sugar and fat content.
• Unhealthy dietetic measures include smoking, use of laxatives, skipping meals, fasting (longer than 24 hours), and vomiting.
• Modifying the eating pattern implies changing the relative importance of meals, i.e. eating more in the morning than in the evening.
• Other methods include bariatric surgery and medication.

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• In all age groups, modifying the type of food eaten is the most popular method used for individuals that want to lose weight and is practiced by more than 84% of the population. 
• Adolescents are the most likely to increase their physical activity levels (70%) to lose weight and older adults aged 65 years and above are the least likely to do so (40%).
• Eating fewer calories is more commonly practiced by adolescents aged 10 to 17 years (44%) as a method to lose weight compared to older adults aged 65 and above (35%).
• Unhealthy measures are a popular method to lose weight in the youngest age group (35%) and less in the oldest adults aged 65 years and above (9%). This could mean altering meal timings, such as consuming less food in the evening.

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
• The education level is calculated at the household level by considering the highest diploma obtained by: (i) the respondents or their partner for adults (aged 18 years and above), or (ii) the father and mother (or carer, if applicable) for children and adolescents (aged 3 to 17 years). However, for simplicity, we refer to the education level of individuals rather than the education level of their households.
• Modifying the type of food eaten:  for example, this could mean consuming less sugar and fat rich foods and, more fruits and vegetables, more water, and products with reduced sugar and fat content.
• Unhealthy dietetic measures include smoking, use of laxatives, skipping meals, fasting (longer than 24 hours), and vomiting.
• Modifying the eating pattern implies changing the relative importance of meals, i.e. to eat more in the morning than in the evening.
• Other methods include bariatric surgery and medication.

• Modifying the type of food consumed is the most commonly used method to lose weight for individuals of all levels of education.
• Individuals with high levels of education (68%) are more likely to increase their physical activity levels as a means to lose weight compared to those with low levels of education (48%).
• Few differences are observed depending on the level of education. In particular, unhealthy methods are as commonly used in low and high-educated groups.

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
• Modifying the type of food eaten:  for example, this could mean consuming less sugar and fat-rich foods and, more fruits and vegetables, more water, and products with reduced sugar and fat content.
• Unhealthy dietetic measures include smoking, use of laxatives, skipping meals, fasting (longer than 24 hours), and vomiting.
• Modifying the eating pattern implies changing the relative importance of meals, i.e. eating more in the morning than in the evening.
• Other methods include bariatric surgery and medication.

• In both Flanders (94%) and Wallonia (94%) modifying the type of food eaten is the most common method used to lose weight.
• Physical activity is more practiced in Flanders (60%) than in Wallonia (44%) as a measure to lose weight.
• Few other regional differences are observed.

• Adjusted = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status, and adjusted according to age and sex based on linear regression model (using the Belgian population of 2022-2023 as reference).
• Modifying the type of food eaten:  for example, this could mean consuming less sugar and fat-rich foods and, more fruits and vegetables, more water, and products with reduced sugar and fat content.
• Unhealthy dietetic measures include smoking, use of laxatives, skipping meals, fasting (longer than 24 hours), and vomiting.
• Modifying the eating pattern implies changing the relative importance of meals, i.e. eating more in the morning than in the evening.
• Other methods include bariatric surgery and medication.

• Since 2004, modifying the type of food eaten remains the most common method to lose weight.
• Increasing physical activity has become a more popular method to manage weight over the years. It increased from 46% in 2004 to 53% in 2014-2015 and 58% in 2022-2023.
• In 2022-2023 eating fewer calories was less practiced (43%) as a method to lose weight than in 2014-2015 (55%) and 2004 (74%).
• Unhealthy measures were less practiced to lose weight in 2022-2023 (25%) than in 2014-2015 (35%). 
• Modifying the food pattern was much less used as a method to lose weight in 2022-2023 (8%) compared to 2014-2015 (22%).

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.

• The most important driver to lose weight in all age categories is by one’s initiative: 76% of adolescents, 94% of adults aged 18 to 39 years, 91% of adults aged 40 to 64 years, and 80% of older adults (65 years and above) tries to lose weight by own initiative.
• In older adults aged 65 years and above (31%) advice from a health professional is a more important driver to lose weight compared to adolescents (13%), younger adults aged 18 to 39 years (11%), and adults aged 40 to 64 years (18%).
• Adolescents (23%) are more driven by advice from family or friends to lose weight compared to adults aged 18 to 39 years (13%) and older adults aged 65 years and above (11%).

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.

• Women (92%) try to lose weight by their own initiative more often than men (85%).
• 17% of men and 12% of women are driven by advice from family or friends to lose weight.
• Men (24%) are more driven to lose weight by advice from a health professional than women (13%). 

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.
• The education level is calculated at the household level by considering the highest diploma obtained by: (i) the respondents or their partner for adults (aged 18 years and above), or (ii) the father and mother (or carer, if applicable) for children and adolescents (aged 3 to 17 years). However, for simplicity, we refer to the education level of individuals rather than the education level of their households.

• The percentage of individuals who want to lose weight by their own initiative increases with their level of education. Specifically, 87% of low-educated individuals initiate weight loss efforts by their own initiative compared to 93% of the high-educated.
• For one out of five individuals with low education, the advice of a health professional was the driver to lose weight.

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex, and socioeconomic status.

• 89% of the Belgian population aged 10 years and above try to lose weight by their own initiative.
• 14% of the Belgian population is driven by advice from family or friends.
• 18% are driven by advice from a health professional.
• No remarkable differences are observed in the drivers for losing weight across regions.

• Crude = results weighted for season, age, sex and socioeconomic status.

• 91% of the Belgian population chose whether to lose weight by their own initiative, a figure comparable to that of 2004 (91%) and 2014-2015 (89%).
• In 2022-2023, 15% of individuals were driven by advice from a health professional in their decision to lose weight. This is lower than in 2014-2015 (30%) and 2004 (26%).
• 15% of individuals were influenced by family or friends in their decision to lose weight. This is lower than in 2014-2015 (33%) and comparable to 2004 (16%).