Exploding the Myth:
Dieting makes you happier

by Jennifer S. Mills, MA, Randi E. McCabe, MA,
     and Janet Polivy, PhD

     In addition to the obvious goals of a dieter — typically, to eat less, to lose  weight, and/or to be healthier — the over-riding goal may be characterized as an  effort to feel better about oneself. Dieters often believe that dieting will somehow make them happier. In the present article, we offer a rebuttal to the myth that  dieting makes you happier by showing through theory and evidence that, in reality,  dieting leads to significant negative consequences in terms of life functioning,  emotional well-being, and self-esteem.
        One of the beliefs that dieters typically hold is that dieting will make them feel better about themselves. In fact, the early stages of a diet are often reinforcing for a dieter because the perception of weight loss can occur quickly (due to an empty stomach and fluid loss). In the beginning phase of a diet, dieters may temporarily feel better about themselves as they see and feel their stomachs get flatter and their clothes fit more loosely — they may even receive compliments from others on achieved weight loss. The phrase "You look great — have you lost weight?" is probably familiar to most of us. The inherent danger in this phase of dieting is that the results that dieters initially perceive raise their expectations even further and reinforce the notion that improvements in appearance will follow from further food restriction.
        As the diet continues, a number of difficulties typically appear for a dieter. There is usually some inconvenience attached to a strict diet, as dieters feel unable to eat where, when, and what they want. Dieters generally limit themselves not only in how much they allow themselves to eat, but also what and how often they may eat. Dieters often avoid eating in the presence of so-called "forbidden foods" (e.g., cake, cookies, and chips) for fear of losing control over their eating. Socializing may become more difficult for dieters if they feel uncomfortable eating around others. While dieters do not usually experience substantial nutritional depletion, they may begin to feel more irritable and less energetic due to hunger. Preoccupation with food and eating may interfere with concentration on more important tasks (e.g., work, studying). 
        One of the most significant obstacles for dieters is the multitude of negative effects resulting from diet-induced psychological deprivation on emotional well-being. Because of the inevitable frustration caused by continued food restriction, dieters begin to experience significant emotional harm. Dieting is associated with psychological distress;  research has shown that dietary restraint — as measured by Polivy, Herman, and Howard's Restraint Scale — is significantly correlated with depression, social anxiety, stress, neuroticism, maladjustment, and emotional instability.(1)  From laboratory studies, we know that dieters are hyper-responsive to common anxiety-provoking situations (e.g., the threat of making a speech in front of critical others), getting more upset and dysphoric than non-dieters in the same situation. Despite the possibility that emotionally-responsive individuals are more likely to diet in the first place, there is some evidence to suggest that dieting behaviour itself causes emotional responsiveness.  In a study of the effects of food deprivation conducted in the 1940's, Keys and colleagues found that when male non-dieting volunteers (conscientious objectors) cut their normal dietary intake in half for six-months, they experienced pronounced emotional instability.(2) While preliminary screening tests showed the volunteers to be emotionally robust at the outset of the study, over the course of their diets, they became irritable, anxious, depressed, apathetic, and expressed frequent outbursts of anger. Thus, we have evidence showing that, independent of any potential pre-existing personality differences between dieters and non-dieters, dieting appears to cause significant emotional distress. 
        Even in the absence of "true" caloric deprivation, as was the case in the Keys study, dieting can lead to emotional distress and instability. The frustration intrinsic in restricting the natural behaviour of eating leads to irritability and hostility as the diet proceeds. Furthermore, given the considerable difficulty of sustaining caloric restriction over any significant period of time, diet "failures" are inevitable for a typical dieter. This frustration contributes to a dieter's emotional distress and exacerbates feelings of insecurity and inadequacy.
        In addition, dieters place great importance on their weight and shape. Most dieters consider their body shape to be one of the most important components of their self-worth. The problem, however, in basing so much of one's self-esteem on thinness is that body shape is not nearly as malleable as our culture suggests. Women are bombarded with messages from the mass media espousing not only an unrealistically thin "ideal" body type, but also products designed to help them achieve this ideal. Body size and shape, however, are biologically based and not easily altered (see Heatherton, this issue). Thus, efforts to change body size and shape are unlike other more attainable self-improvement measures (e.g., learning to play the piano, trying to be a nicer person) and do little to make one feel better about oneself. 
 Dieting and body dissatisfaction are certainly closely connected. Dieters begin their diets feeling dissatisfied with their bodies. Research has shown that the vast majority of college women who reported being dissatisfied with their weights were dieting. But dieting itself can worsen self-image. We know that dieters hope and expect to achieve significant weight loss from dieting, despite the fact that most diets don't work  (this is sometimes referred to as the "false hope effect" of dieting). When a dieter's hopes are dashed by inevitable diet transgressions and probable weight regain, self-image declines even further and leaves her vulnerable to the same thing that made her want to diet in the first place: dissatisfaction with herself. 
        Continued diet transgressions and failure to lose "enough" weight result in loss of hope, and typically lead dieters to abandon their current diet. However, when one diet fails, another one commonly follows. The body's response to repeated episodes of caloric deprivation is a lowered basal metabolic rate;  thus, a net weight gain often results from chronic dieting as one's body begins to store fat for energy, exacerbating pre-existing body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness.  Even if dieters do manage to lose as much weight as was intended, they usually find that the lost weight quickly returns, often with a few extra pounds.(3) Consequently, dieters often embark on a course of chronic, cyclical attempts at weight loss (i.e., "yo-yo dieting"). The continuity of chronic dieting is delineated by Heatherton & Polivy's "spiral model" of dieting.(4) With each repeated failure, the outcome is more pronounced: depressed mood, elevated stress, worsened self-image, and — commonly — strengthened resolve to find and start the diet that will finally work. 
        To put it simply, dieting does not make you feel better about yourself. And in all likelihood, it will make you feel worse about yourself. There are numerous negative consequences that arise from dieting, including inconvenience, social complications, frustration, and irritability and stress due to hunger. Continued food restriction leads to psychological deprivation which produces negative emotions, including depression and anxiety. Repeated diet failures exacerbate feelings of insecurity and body dissatisfaction, which, ironically, increase the likelihood of further dieting efforts. These failures lead to a downward spiral of negative self-esteem and affect. Not only is dieting an ineffective way to lose weight, but attempts at improving the outside do nothing to improve the inside, and eventually hurt much more than help. 
 

 References
 1. Polivy, J., Herman, C.P., & Howard, K. (1988). The Restraint Scale: Assessment of dieting. In M. Hersen & S. Bellack (Eds.), Dictionary of Behavioural Assessment Techniques, (377-380).  New York:  Pergamon.
 2. Keys, A., Brozek, J., Henschel, A., Mickelson, O., & Taylor, H.L. (1950). The biology of human starvation.  Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
 3. Polivy, J. & Herman, C.P. (1983). Breaking the diet habit: The natural weight alternative. New York:  Basic Books.
 4. Heatherton, T.F., & Polivy, J. (1992). Chronic dieting and eating disorders: A spiral model.  In J.H. Crowther, S.E. Hobfall, M.A.P. Stephens, & D.L. Tennebaum (Eds.), The Etiology of Bulimia:  The Individual and Familial Context. Washington, DC:  Hemisphere Publishers.
 

Janet Polivy, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto (at Mississauga), Ontario, Canada.  Jennifer Mills, MA, and Randi McCabe, MA, are dissertation students working with Polivy at the University of Toronto. McCabe is doing an internship at the Eating Disorders Clinic of the Toronto Hospital.