Married dating site Illicit Encounters has revealed that the English are more self conscious than the Scottish. With only 17% of 2000 English surveyed putting ‘Athletic’ on their dating profile, compared to 52% of Scottish describing their bodies as athletic.

“The results of the survey were very interesting,” said Dr. Lucy Redford, “The majority of the Scottish surveyed have described themselves as ‘athletic’ despite the fact that 62.6% of 16-64 year olds are medically overweight or obese in Scotland, costing the NHS over £600 million a year. In comparison, 60% of people in England between the ages of 16 and 64 are overweight or obese. This isn’t a healthy figure either by any means, but it’s interesting that the vast majority of the surveyed Scottish people would call themselves athletic even though the vast majority of people in Scotland are overweight or obese.”

Research found that those who have the word ‘athletic’ in their profiles get an average of 127% more traffic than those who don’t have it on their profile, proving that confidence in itself is incredibly attractive to both men and women.

“Just because someone doesn’t describe themselves as athletic, it doesn’t mean they’re not in good shape,” said Claire Page, spokesperson for Illicit Encounters, “Often, people are too afraid to use the word ‘athletic’ in their profile in case people think they’re built like Arnold Schwarzenegger or as ripped as Jessica Ennis. They’re afraid to cause disappointment when they meet up with their date. It’s a classic case of low self-esteem, which is why so many people look to have affairs in the first place – to seek validation if they’re no longer getting it from their partners. We all have a fundamental need to feel important, wanted and valued by someone else.”

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