Understanding the Mood-dieting Cycle

This paper develops a behavioral model in food consumption choices that illuminates observed patterns of weight gain and dieting. Particularly it addresses the important role of willpower and mood stability in dieting behavior and hence consumption decisions. Built on previous research of the “dual-process” model (see Jonathan, 2005 and Loewenstein & O’Donoghue, 2005) in which a person’s behavior is the outcome of an interaction between deliberative process and affective process, and Baumeister and Vohs (2003) that attempts by the deliberative system to override affective motivations require limited supply of willpower, this paper further shows that people cannot exert full control over their goal-pursuing behavior, as reflected by the existence and fluctuation of moods during the pursuit. What is new to research is, this model assumes mood status is an important variable affecting willpower to exert control in dieting behavior, i.e. a good mood helps people diet successfully, whereas a bad mood weakens their willpower of fulfilling dieting, so dieters gain excess weight.