Motivation for exercising, nutrition habits and body weight of women visiting sports and fitness centres

Aim of the study: To evaluate the motivation for exercising of women visiting Kaunas sports and fitness centres, and associations between motivation, health, nutrition habits and body weight. Objectives: To evaluate the subjective health of women visiting sports and fitness centres; to determine nutrition habits and anthropometric indicators of exercising women; to assess women's motivation for exercise; to determine the links between motivation and subjective health, nutrition habits and body weight. Material and methods. Nine Kaunas sports and fitness centres were randomly selected for the study. All women of 18 years and older exercising in certain centres were invited to participate in the study. 200 questionnaires were distributed and 176 were returned (88 percent). The original questionnaire consisting of 46 questions was applied for the survey. MPAM-R (Motives for Physical Activities Measure–Revised) questionnaire was used for the analysis of motives for engaging in physical activity. The MPAM-R assesses five motives: appearance, social, competence, fitness, and interest/enjoyment. Nutrition was assessed by food frequency questionnaire and a number of questions about eating habits. The respondents were also asked about physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption habits. Self-reported height and weight were used for calculation of body mass index (BMI). Results. Most of the exercising women assessed their health as good (79 percent), although some had certain complains. More than one-third of women complained about nervousness and headache. Nutrition habits of most women were quite healthy. They had daily breakfast (69.3 percent), ate 2 or more hours before sleep (90.4 percent), consumed fresh vegetables (66.4 percent) and whole grain products (54.4 percent) daily and drank skimmed milk (26.8 percent). More than half of women responded that they never consume fast food and unhealthy snacks, but one-fifth of women ate chocolate and sweets every day. Most women (87.8 percent) stated that a healthy diet is important to them. They had healthier nutrition habits than those who stated on the contrary. The majority of exercising women (78.4 percent) had normal BMI; the prevalence of overweight was 10.5%, and the prevalence of underweight - 11.1%. All underweight women and 37 percent of normal weight women evaluated their weight incorrectly. The highest proportion of women who were satisfied with their weight was among underweight women. Fitness and appearance were the strongest motives for exercise in sports or fitness centres. The lowest score had the scale of social motive (5.0). The motives were related to the age and education of the respondents. The enjoyment and competence motives (instrinsic motivation) of women, assessing their health as good, were stronger than among those who rated their health poorly. The appearance motive scores were higher among underweight and overweight women. The enjoyment motive was most expressed among women who assessed their physical fitness well and were exercising often. Conclusions. Majority women exercising in sports and fitness centres are in good health, have normal body weight and healthy nutrition habits. The extrinsic motivation to exercise is more common in women who worried about their weight, and the intrinsic motivation to exercise is more expressed among women who evaluated their health and physical fitness well and exercised often