When Cutting Calories, We Shouldn't Forgo Pleasure

We live in a world of abundant, indulgent food options. For most of us, chocolate, cookies, or chips are only a few steps away in our kitchens or, at most, a few minutes away at the closest supermarket or bodega. Given this abundance, and an often sedentary lifestyle, it’s no wonder that many of us weigh more than we would like to and struggle to exert the self-control to lose weight (Steinmetz & Mussweiler, 2017).

We know that to lose weight, we should choose healthy virtuous options instead of indulgent ones. But in many situations, we don’t have control over the food options in front of us. For example, when invited to a dinner or a wedding, there might be a few dessert options, but they might all be indulgent. Similarly, at many fast-food places or convenience stores, no healthy option that consists of fresh fruit or vegetables may be available.

What do consumers do in such situations? It might be difficult to refuse dessert or to not eat anything, so they probably eat the indulgent foods. Common sense would suggest that if you indulge, you might as well do so in a way that maximizes your pleasure, and consumers typically get pleasure from having a variety of foods. After all, when going to a buffet, it’s much more fun to take a bit of everything that looks good, instead of taking only one option.

However, new research by Hoori Rafieian and colleagues (2023) suggests that consumers paradoxically forgo pleasurable variety when only indulgent options are available. For example, in one study with 100 students, some were asked to think about their fitness goals, whereas others weren’t. All students then chose snacks from a variety of only indulgent options. Those who had thought about fitness goals chose less variety than the other group. But why would consumers do that? After all, it’s not the variety that leads to weight gain, but the calories that consumers eat.

Further studies by these authors showed that consumers assume that to lose weight, they should forgo pleasure. As variety is one way to gain pleasure from food, consumers believe that forgoing variety will help them lose weight. But this is far from the truth; although consumers believe that pleasure in eating is indulgent, that’s not necessarily the case. In fact, focusing on joy and pleasure as much as possible can help consumers stick to their goals for longer and be more persistent (Woolley & Fishbach, 2016).

By forgoing pleasure, consumers make losing weight harder than it needs to be. In fact, consumers should allow themselves as much pleasure as possible within their weight-loss pursuit. That can mean having a variety of desserts from a buffet when at a wedding or celebration. It can also mean decorating one’s plate or listening to fun music when eating healthy snacks. When trying to lose weight, we should reduce our calories, but we shouldn’t reduce our pleasure alongside.