MONDAY, Aug. 31, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Some men see dieting as a pursuit for women, and something they simply don’t have the willpower to do, a new study says.

A panel of U.K. men who were overweight or obese said diets are simply too restrictive to stick with, researchers reported Aug. 26 in the journal PLOS One.

Diets deny people the food they enjoy and require too much sacrifice, the men said.

“I think diet is a very negative word because as soon as you mention the word diet everybody automatically thinks restriction, restriction, restriction,” one participant complained.

"Temptation is normally the thing that breaks you," another said.

Men also were more likely to reject a diet if it was seen as too female-focused and viewed dieting as something that women do, researchers found.

“I feel women pay more attention to their body, the size of their body, the shape of their body compared to men,” one participant said.

For the new study, researchers interviewed 24 men ages 30 and older who had excess weight. All participants had previously participated in a weight-loss program or were planning to lose weight in the near future.

“Obesity is a major public health issue, so we wanted to evaluate adult male perceptions and experiences of weight-loss initiatives and also understand the support mechanisms used by men when targeting weight loss,” said researcher Justin Roberts, a professor of nutritional physiology at Anglia Ruskin University in the U.K.

Men tended to view dieting as something that requires tremendous effort and willpower.

“There has to be that willpower,” one man said. “As soon as I start to fail, I just give up mentally and then it all falls apart, and then a year later I try again, and it’s just a cycle.”

Said another: “Even the slightest setback can bring the whole thing crashing down.”

Framing weight loss programs as a competition seemed to help, researchers added.

“We found that for weight-loss programs to appeal to men, they should involve quick-wins, early rewards and a degree of social competitiveness around aesthetic gains, ahead of health-specific requirements,” Roberts said in a news release. “This could involve sport or physical challenges, perhaps focused on strength or stamina.”

Results also showed that men saw their wives or partners as providing important support in their efforts to lose weight.

"My wife structures our meal plan, but she does like 10 days shopping in a row. And she’ll say to me, what do you want to eat on those days?" one man said.

“The snacks she buys me are apples rather than chocolates and stuff like that,” another said. “That’s half the battle.”

How dieting was discussed also seemed to affect the men, researchers found.

“Terminology should avoid ‘diets’ and ‘dieting’ and instead frame weight loss as a positive personal challenge,” Roberts said. “Our findings also suggest that initiatives aimed at couples could be particularly effective. The support of spouses was found to be especially helpful, while participants also found having a ‘buddy’ or mentor was also beneficial.”

The researchers noted that more investigation is needed involving larger and more diverse groups of men.

More information

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has nutrition recommendations for men.

SOURCES: Anglia Ruskin University, news release, Aug. 26, 2026; PLOS One, Aug. 26, 2026

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