Jeffery Sobal, a Cornell University professor of nutritional sociology, and Lori Neighbors, a doctoral student at Cornell, found in a study of 310 Cornell students that almost 90 percent of normal-weight women yearn to be thinner.

The study, published in the journal Eating Behaviors, found 78 percent of overweight males surveyed want to weigh less, but almost two-thirds of this group do not want to lose enough -- the body weight they desire would still keep them overweight. The findings were similar in women -- overweight women want to weigh less, but about half want a body weight that would continue to classify them overweight.

The researchers said the findings suggest "that the idealized body weight and shape, especially among underweight females and overweight individuals of both genders, are not in accordance with population-based standards defining healthy body weight."