Your Natural Weight

American women today typically weigh much more than American women weighed forty years ago or than European women weigh today. We believe that these increased weights are mainly due to changes in the American diet which began about forty years ago. Your "natural weight" is how much you would have weighed if you had not experienced these dietary changes, and most American women are well above their natural weights. And the more you weigh, the greater the difference is likely to be between your current weight and your "natural weight." This table will give you a rough idea of what your natural weight is likely to be if you are over 30.

If you are under 30, the differences between your current and "natural weight" are greater. For more on finding your natural weight, see Chapter 10. For more on how changes in the American diet led to higher weights in women, see Chapters 1-2 and 7-9. For more on how women's weights normally change with age, see Chapters 3-5.