Introduction:
Contemporary women increasingly more frequently make a decision to go on a weight-loss diet to enable them to lose a significant amount of weight in a short time. Most often, the source of their nutritional knowledge is the mass media, while they sporadically use a dietician or doctor’s advice. Such behaviours may lead to severe negative health consequences.

Aim:
Assessment of the prevalence and attitudes of young women towards weight-loss diets.

Material and Methods:
The study included 105 women aged 19–39 from Krakow and Warsaw. The examined population was divided into two groups: Group I: 66 women who have never been on a weight-loss diet (63% of the respondents) Group II: 39 women who are or have been on a weight-loss diet (37% of the respondents).

Results:
37% of the examined population were women on weight-loss diets. More than 80% of all respondents from both groups confirmed that today there is a social pressure related with having a slim silhouette. Dukan diet (41.7%), Kopenhaska diet (22.2%), Kwaśniewski diet (16.7%) and the mono-componential diet (13.9%) were most often used. Only 13.9% of respondents ever consulted a dietitian. Moreover, dieters (58.3%) often ended up with a ‘weight yo-yo’ effect.

Conclusions:
Women who used these diets were characterized by low self-esteem. They were dissatisfied with their body image and were more willing to change their physical image than those who did not apply any diet. A large percentage of women from Group II (38.46%) would decide to go on diet that was proved to be harmful and health-damaging, providing that this diet caused weight-loss.