You might associate fad diets with the young, but British women of all ages are guilty of crash dieting.

According to weight loss expert Rich Leigh, who is also the founder of fatfreefitness.co.uk, crash diets are unhealthy and the results are short-lived.

But this doesn’t stop four out of five women in the UK between the ages of 25 and 45 from depriving themselves of key food groups at least once a year in an effort to shed pounds.

"Although at the minute, the emphasis is on teenagers, you look around the average office, they [women] are still doing exactly the same thing as these teenage girls," he explained, adding that older is not necessarily wiser when it comes to having a positive body image.

The fatfreefitness.co.uk study also found that 95 per cent of women who embarked on a crash diet put the weight back on as soon as they returned to their normal eating habits – suggesting that perhaps this isn’t the best course of action to take for lasting weight loss.

Instead, Mr Leigh suggested British women make a few simple lifestyle changes to incorporate more exercise into their day, such as taking the stairs instead of the lift.

That sounds pretty manageable – and a lot more pleasant than a short-term salad diet!

Tags: Dieting & Weight Control, exercise, fitness, Losing Weight, Obesity