Researchers at the University of North Carolina conducted a poll of almost 1,850 women over the age of 50 to shed light on their thoughts and feelings about body image.
Many of the respondents voiced concerns about their weight and the way they viewed their own bodies.
Behaviours that are linked with eating disorders were also common among the women, despite generally being associated with teenagers and young adults.
"We know very little about how women aged 50 and above feel about their bodies," said lead researcher Dr Cynthia Bulik, director of the university's Eating Disorders Programme.
Dr Bulik claimed there is an "unfortunate assumption" that women "grow out of body dissatisfaction" as they get older, but that no-one has really thought to ask how they feel until now.
"Since most research focuses on younger women, our goal was to capture the concerns of women in this age range to inform future research and service planning."
The findings, which are published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, suggest that age does not act as a barrier to body image concerns, with many middle-aged women still hankering after the perfect bikini body.
More than three-fifths (62 per cent) of survey respondents said their weight or body shape had a negative impact on their life, while 79 per cent claimed it had affected their self-perception.
Sixty-four per cent of women admitted they thought about their body on a daily basis, with 41 per cent checking their weight every day and a further 40 per cent weighing themselves at least twice a week.
When it came to dieting, 36 per cent of the women said they had been on a diet for at least half of the previous five years, while 7.5 per cent had tried diet pills and seven per cent excessive exercise.
Dr Bulik concluded that weight and shape concerns "don't discriminate on the basis of age", and that doctors should be alert for any issues "that may adversely influence women's physical and psychological wellbeing as they mature".
