Does Dieting Work? What research shows

Let’s start with the basics.

What is the “diet culture”?

According to Christy Harrison1, who popularized this term in 2019, diet culture is the belief system that praises thin bodies, treats weight as a sign of health and worth, pushes weight loss as success, and shames certain foods and people who don’t fit the “ideal” body type.

In simpler terms: the diet culture prefers looks over health.

It suggests that the size and shape of your body matter more than how you actually feel. More than your energy levels. More than your physical strength. More than whether you can run to catch a bus without feeling exhausted.

Diet culture teaches that you are a valuable person only if you’re thin, and that being healthy, energetic, or mentally well comes second.

According to diet culture, you can only be happy if you look like someone with the ideal body and face (and hair, and clothes).

And if you focus on your size and shape because of the diet culture, the obvious solution to all your problems is losing weight.

Shrinking your body. Eating fewer calories than you burn.

Sounds simple, right?

Unfortunately, human beings are far more complex than a math equation, and that’s where dieting starts to fall apart.

What is the opposite of dieting?

The opposite of dieting isn’t just “not dieting.”

It’s choosing well-being over the number on the scale.

It means eating without extreme restrictions, listening to hunger and fullness instead of emotions, boredom, or social pressure. It’s about trusting your body again.

This often shows up in approaches like:

1. Mindful eating

Mindful eating, according to well-known author and mindfulness teacher Andy Puddicombe (also co-founder of Headspace), is the practice of bringing full, non-judgmental awareness to the experience of eating. Rather than focusing on rules about what to eat, it emphasizes how we eat—slowing down, noticing flavors and bodily sensations, and tuning into hunger and fullness cues. At its core, it is about stepping out of autopilot and reconnecting with the present moment through food.2

2. Intuitive Eating (IE)

Intuitive Eating (IE) is an evidence-based, non-diet approach to eating that encourages people to listen to their body’s internal hunger, fullness, and satisfaction cues rather than following external food rules. The term was coined by dietitians Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole3, who developed IE as a framework for building a healthy, flexible relationship with food and the body.

3. HAES (Health at Every Size)

Health at Every Size (HAES) is a framework that promotes well-being through body respect, intuitive eating, and enjoyable physical activity, without focusing on weight loss as a health goal. The approach was popularized by researcher and author Lindo Bacon4, who argues that health outcomes improve when people are supported in caring for their bodies rather than pressured to change their weight.

The big question: Which one is more successful?

Well, you might get disappointed here, but according to latest psychology research, the answer to this question really depends on what you consider as success.

If success means short-term weight loss, dieting can often deliver that.

But if success means a healthier relationship with food, less emotional eating, better mental well-being, then non-diet approaches consistently perform better.

In 2024, Breda and colleagues5 conducted a review of seven studies, comparing one group that had the traditional dieting approach (e.g. you’re counting calories and eat less than you burn), with another group that had focus on joyful exercise, body acceptance and listening to hunger cues.

Here is what they have found:

Dieting brings you short-term weight loss. However, in the long run, non-diet approaches lead to a better relationship with food and your body, as well as significantly better mental health.

It was also noteworthy that after follow-up, only one study (!) reported that the short-term weight loss was actually sustained.

In contrast, the non-diet approaches consistently led to improvements in disordered eating behaviors (emotional eating, uncontrolled eating, cognitive restriction) and relationship with food.

In other words: diets may shrink bodies briefly, but non-diet approaches heal relationships with food, and that’s what tends to last.

Practical advice: What can you do differently starting today?

Here are three short tips that you can start doing today, in order to step out of the diet culture.

1. Slow meals down

Try putting your fork down between a few bites. Notice the flavors and textures. Be grateful for the meal. Stay curious about the moment when satisfaction starts to kick in.

2. Ditch food labels

No food needs to be labeled as morally “good” or “bad.” Some foods are more nutritious, others are more for pleasure. Both have a place in a balanced life.

3. Move in ways you enjoy

Walk, stretch, dance, lift weights, do yoga, or whatever feels good in your body. Get off the bus two stops earlier than usual and walk the rest of the way. When movement feels like punishment, it never lasts.

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