(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-24 11:05

New York -- Most overweight people want to trim down but aren't looking to shed enough pounds to put them in a healthy weight range, suggesting larger body sizes are becoming more acceptable, according to a new study.

A woman walks along the boardwalk while leaving the US Open tennis tournament in New York September 4, 2007. [Agencies]

Researchers from New York's Cornell University assessed the current and ideal body weight of 310 college students in a survey and then determined the corresponding body mass indexes.

They found nearly 90 percent of normal-weight women wanted to weigh less, with most desiring a body weight that still fell within the normal-weight range.

Overweight women also wanted to shed a few pounds, but for half of them the body weight they wished remained in the overweight range.

The results were more varied among the men. But for the overweight group who wanted to weigh less, 59 percent would still have an unhealthy body weight when at their ideal weight.

"This study suggests there may be a shift toward accepting, for normal-weight women, normal healthy body weight, as well as potentially larger body sizes," said researcher Lori Neighbors, who worked with Jeffery Sobal of Cornell on the study.

"Most surprising was that many of those classified as overweight didn't idealize the weight that would be considered normal or healthy weight by objective body mass index standards."

Among the underweight women, half of them wanted to remain at the same weight or lose weight.

The study, published in the journal Eating Behaviors, also examined current and ideal body shapes by presenting line drawing representations.

The current shape of the underweight women was on average close to their desired body shape, which would keep them in the underweight category.

"Once they're there, they don't really want to change," said Neighbors in an interview.

For individuals who are overweight, realistic and renegotiated weight ideals may be influencing factors, she said.

"There seems to be social movements that are really pushing inclusion and a health-at-any-size viewpoint ... People are becoming more accepting of heavier body weights and body sizes."

About two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese in the US, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.