Where has our body confidence gone? Women spend a whole MONTH worrying about their appearance

It's no wonder diets and weight loss regimes do such booming business, as it's been revealed today that women spend almost an entire month of the year worrying about their appearance.

Fear about our weight or our curves, as well as whether we overindulged at our last meal make up for an average 12 hours and four minutes a week of worry for women.

This results in us spending a whopping 627 hours and 28 minutes panicking about how we look, over the course of one year.

An alarming new study released today showed that anxiety over our weight, fretting about what to wear and then how that outfit looks cause a serious amount of concern for most women.

And if we're not beating ourselves up enough, stressing over whether we're fat, too bloated, have pale skin or frizzy hair is also playing on our minds.

The average female spends around 50 minutes a week deciding what to wear, with a further hour and 32 minutes worrying about what we've chosen.

Even our choice of underwear poses problems, with many ladies taking up to 39 minutes a week deciding on what lingerie looks best.

But being overweight is our biggest concern, with many of us fretting for up to an hour and 46 minutes every week on whether we've piled on the pounds.

Our fear of putting on weight means we spend another hour and 26 minutes on top of all this worry time frantically trying to cover up any wobbly bits - with eight out of 10 of us admitting we often have days where they just want to cover up problem areas regardless of what they see in the mirror.

But on the flip side, looking too thin also makes women feel anxious for a further 22 minutes.

Speaking about the new research, Michele Duncan, for Lycra Beauty fabric, said while it's only natural to have days we don't feel out best - it's surprising just how much time we dedicate to worrying about our looks.

"It's inevitable that women will have occasions where they aren't feeling as confident about their appearance and worry about how they look," she said.

"We all have those days where you wake up and feel bloated or just a little more aware of your wobbly bits than usual.

"But to think women are spending such a large amount of their time concerned about their appearance is surprising.

"Simple things such as choosing the right shapewear can go a long way to alleviating those body shape concerns leaving you to be able to get on with your day, worry-free."

Having a good complexion and skin colour is important to many girls, with spots, tan and tone leading to up to 2 hours and 22 minutes a week of worry.

Waking up with frizzy or greasy hair regularly worries a third of ladies - who then go on to feel uneasy about their hair for 57 minutes.

But it also emerged the average woman will have at least nine days a month where they have absolutely no confidence at all about their figure and appearance.

Researchers also found that when it comes to choosing an appropriate outfit for the day, 82 per cent of women admit their final choice will depend on how confident they are feeling about their appearance at the time.

And nine out of 10 girls always select an outfit which hides the parts of the body they most dislike or feel least confident about.

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Attending a wedding requires the most thought on what to wear, closely followed by a party or a night out.

But for many women, events like lunch with friends, a new date or a party lead to weeks of stress, as they dread not being able to find a nice outfit to cover their lumps and bumps.

Although 48 per cent of ladies admit they probably spend far too much time worrying about their problem areas and appearance.

WOMEN'S WEEKLY WORRIES

What to wear - 50 minutes
Whether outfit / clothes then look okay - 1 hour and 32 minutes
Whether my wobbly bits are covered up - 1 hour and 26 minutes
What underwear to wear under an outfit - 39 minutes
Being overweight - 1 hour and 46 minutes
Being too thin - 22 minutes
Being bloated - 1 hour and 1 minute
Breasts are too large - 37 minutes
Breasts are too small - 32 minutes
Having spots - 56 minutes
Uneven skin tone - 50 minutes
Tan / lack of a tan - 36 minutes
Frizzy / greasy hair - 57 minutes

TOTAL TIME SPENT WORRYING EACH WEEK - 12 HOURS AND 4 MINUTES

Do you spend a lot of time worrying about how you look? Share your thoughts with us over on Twitter, now.