Worry Over Weight: Poll Finds Health Disconnect

"I was a fanatic about exercise when I was younger, and I quit focusing on that when I had kids," says Laura Comer, 45, a mother of two.

But she just her lost her job as a hospital system vice president and is using the new free time to ease in more activity. First up: walking 10,000 steps a day.

Vesna Stemwell, 51, has a sedentary job -- she's a computer programmer -- with lots of overtime and a 45-minute commute.

Temporarily giving up meat and dairy products for a religious observance helped her drop five 5 pounds (2.25 kilograms), so she's considering becoming vegetarian to drop more. But her husband is not keen about a menu change.

"Changing the diet," Stemwell said, "affects everybody in the house and it's hard to have something different."

About a quarter of the women surveyed said they would consider plastic surgery to feel more beautiful. Their overwhelming choice: a tummy tuck.

"There isn't any quick fix," says Dr. Nieca Goldberg, who directs the women's heart program at the New York University Langone Medical Center.

A tummy tuck is cosmetic, removing just some surface fat, and a far cry from more radical surgeries like stomach stapling that are reserved to help the health of the very obese.

"People can't see the damage that's being done inside their body," says Goldberg. "If you increase your fitness but don't lose as much weight, you still have a lower heart disease risk than someone who is obese and sedentary."

At the other end of the spectrum, the poll found 16 percent of normal-weight women who nonetheless are dieting to drop pounds (kilograms).

The AP-iVillage poll was conducted April 20-30 by Knowledge Networks, which contacted survey participants using traditional telephone and mail polling methods but then intensively questioned them online, providing Internet access for those who needed it. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

AP Polling Director Trevor Tompson and Associated Press Writer Christine Simmons contributed to this report.