The Psychology of Dieting

If you’ve been following the newsletter for a while, you’ve probably noticed that every issue revolves around one central idea : becoming the best version of ourselves.

Doing so, requires us to be honest and pin point what it is we want to change or improve about ourselves. It means recognizing habits or beliefs that might be holding us back.

I’ve been reading about motivation and emotion and there is one topic that stood out for me which is the : diet culture. How do they relate to one another?

Dieting isn’t just about nutrition. It involves motivation, emotion, cognition and physiology (all interacting at the same time).

Motivation is the force that drives our behaviour. People diet for many reasons : to improve their health, to lose weight, to feel more confident, to meet social or cultural beauty standards and so on. Psychologists distinguish between intrinsic motivation (doing something because it aligns with your own values, like wanting to feel healthy) and extrinsic motivation (doing something because of external pressure, like wanting approval or fitting societal expectations).

Research generally shows that behaviours driven by intrinsic motivation are more likely to last over time.

Emotions, help explain why diets can become difficult. Stress, anxiety, loneliness, boredom, sadness, and even happiness can change how much we eat and what foods we crave. For example:

• Stress can increase cravings for highly palatable foods.
• Anxiety can make cognitive control harder to maintain.
• Celebrations often encourage eating regardless of hunger.

Food isn’t only fuel, it’s also connected to comfort, pleasure, memories, and social connection.

Then there’s cognitive control versus biological motivation.

When we decide to go on a diet, most of the time, we place our eating under cognitive control rather than physiological control. In simpler terms, instead of eating intuitively, meaning when our body is telling us it’s hungry, we create rules. For example : “I’ll eat at noon”, “I’m only allowed one snack today”. Setting objectives to loose weight or get in better shape is fine. What I am explaining is that those rules that we set ourselves come from the mind not the body. The main challenge with this is that our cognitive system was not designed to permanently override our biological needs.

Most of us like to believe that our thoughts can be stronger than our instincts. We tell ourselves that if we simply have enough discipline, we’ll be able to ignore hunger. But psychology proves that our biological drives are more powerful. This is why sometimes, dieting can become very mentally exhausting.

And emotions certainly play an important role. Here’s an example : research has found that people who are dieting eat more when anxious than people who are anxious but not dieting.

Why?

Because maintaining cognitive control requires so much mental energy. Anxiety already consumes a large portion of that mental capacity. When our attention is overwhelmed by stress or emotion, the cognitive control we’ve been relying on becomes harder to maintain and our body’s natural drives take over. And this does not mean at all that you lack willpower. It just means that your brain is fighting between the rules you set yourself, and your body’s biological needs.

So what can you do instead?

EAT INTUITIVELY

Instead of following food rules, learn to reconnect with your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues. One strategy often recommended is to stop eating when you feel about 80% full. This gives your stomach enough time to signal the brain that it is full.

BUILD FLEXIBLE HABITS

Many of us live around the idea that we must eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at specific times each day. Routines can be super helpful, but if you’re not hungry at noon, you don’t necessarily need to force yourself to eat simply because the clock says it’s lunch time. Creating flexibility allows you to respond to your body’s needs. With time, this can also help reduce the constant mental focus on food and promote healthier eating habits.

DESIGN YOUR ENVIRONMENT

Healthy eating shouldn’t feel like a daily struggle. Instead of relying only on self control, create an environment that naturally supports your goals. Keep nutritious food visible and easily accessible, prepare meals in advance, and make the healthier choices the most convenient option. When you change your environment in favour of those healthy behaviours, with time, they require less effort, less decision making and less willpower.

When we think about dieting, we often think about food. But from a psychological perspective, dieting is really a story about motivation, emotion, decision-making, and finding a balance between our thoughts and our physiology.

A Note to Readers

The ideas discussed in this article are intended for generally healthy individuals who are looking to build a more balanced relationship with food.

If you are living with, or recovering from, an eating disorder or another medical condition that affects eating, hunger, or weight, these strategies may not be appropriate. Recovery often requires individualized care and guidance from qualified healthcare professionals, and your nutritional needs may be very different.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to eating. Always choose the path that best supports your physical and mental well-being.