Its official! Most women weigh more than they claim

Millions of women lie about their weight with many 'losing pounds' when talking to a partner, best friend and even their mum, a new study has revealed.

The study of 2,000 women found that two thirds of women have lied about their size, with 9lbs being the average amount by which they reduce their true weight.

One in five has even pretended they weigh a stone less than they actually do and one in six has gone as far as typing in a lower weight into the machines at the gym as they are embarrassed by their true size.

Because of the lies, a quarter of women are now confused about their true weight and regularly buy the wrong sizes, according to the study commissioned by Eat Water, a pasta product that encourages weight loss.

"Most people will admit to telling the odd white lie about their body shape and weight but for women to be lying so frequently is a bit of a shame," the Daily Mail quoted Vincent Lee, from EatWater.co.uk, as saying.

"Weight is such a tricky issue and everyone knows that it's not always the best indicator of someone's healthiness or size. And body shape and size is such a personal issue.

"Carrying extra weight can be embarrassing and knock your confidence and it's only natural that you might not want to highlight this to your friends and even your partner.

"It's especially worrying that so many women are starting to believe their own lies," he stated.

And it isn't just their weight that women lie about, with many confessing to telling porkies about their dress size, bra size and even their shoe size.

Most women admit to dropping one dress size but one in five said they always claim they are two dress sizes smaller than reality.

And 17 per cent even cut out the labels from clothes and bras to keep up the pretense of being smaller.

The study also found one in ten even lie about their height with most adding a few inches to make themselves seem taller.

The top reason for fibbing was that women were embarrassed by their true size, followed by giving them an instant confidence boost.

Further the results revealed that most women wanted to be between eight and nine stone and a size 10 with a bra size of 34C.

They also wanted to have size five feet and be between five foot six inches and five foot eight inches.