Why do women struggle so much with weight? Can women ever lose weight and keep it off?

In this research-driven and counterintuitive book, an anthropologist and a public health doctor team up to answer those questions. Blending anecdotal evidence with hard science, they explain how women's weight is controlled by evolution-but more important- they reveal how a change in diet three decades ago may be the reason women today are bigger than their grandmothers were.

Explaining why fat (both in our diet and in our body) is crucial to long-term health, the authors show not only why women tend (and need) to get heavier after having their first child, but also destroy cultural myths like "all fat is bad for you." Providing a plan that can help any woman achieve a natural, healthy weight- without dieting- Why Women Need Fat not only gives women the tools they need to shed weight, but also a better understanding of why those last five pounds seem impossible to lose.