From not eating a day before a weigh in to stripping down completely naked, new research showed that women go to extraordinary lengths to make themselves feel better about their weight.

A study for a healthy living campaign by Splenda, found that women are so obsessed with losing weight,  they invent a number of tactics to appear thinner.

Apparently, 49% of the women questioned said they stripped down before weighing themselves and more than half admitted to going to the toilet before stepping on the scale.

All in the hopes of appearing lighter, nearly 9% said they took off their jewellery before a measurement and an extreme 2.5% admitted to not eating the day before a weigh in.

Some women even lied about shedding a few pounds because they didn’t want to be branded as weak and others proudly accepted the praise when announcing weight loss, even if it wasn’t true.

Healthy cooking guru Nadia Sawalha, who is the face of the Small Steps campaign, said:

“We would urge people to forget these dieting rituals and enjoy a healthy lifestyle which includes a balance of exercise and eating sensibly.”