What (not) to eat: Exploring weight-loss and dietary intentions in representative samples from Germany and Austria

Despite significant health risks associated with high body weight and poor diet, little is known about the prevalence and targets of weight-loss and dietary intentions. This information could, however, be used to tailor behaviour change interventions to help overcome the intention-behaviour gap. For this reason, the present study explored weight-loss and dietary intentions in a representative sample (N = 1,510; 50.40% female; Mage = 48.55, SDage = 16.68; MBMI = 26.89, SDBMI = 5.92) from Germany (n = 1,006) and Austria (n = 504). Over half of the sample reported having weight-loss (57%) and dietary avoidance intentions (i.e., intention to eat less of certain foods; 59%), while only 34% reported having dietary approach intentions (i.e., intention to eat more of certain foods). A discrepancy between weight-loss intention and weight-loss indication was found for approximately 27% of individuals. Even though some socio-demographic characteristics were associated with weight-loss/dietary intentions and/or their strengths, effect sizes were small, except for differences in BMI across individuals with (M = 28.80) and without weight-loss intentions (M = 24.32), r = –.443. For dietary intentions, the most common target foods were ‘snacks high in sugar, fat, and/or salt’ (24%), ‘meat’ (12%) and ‘sugar/foods high in sugar’ (11%) for avoidance intentions and ‘fruits and vegetables’ (27%) as well as ‘protein/foods high in protein’ (3%) for approach intentions. These findings indicate that individuals might benefit from enhanced awareness of who does (not) need to lose weight and a less avoidance-centred perspective on eating, i.e., a shift from focusing on avoiding unhealthy foods towards consuming healthy foods, as approach strategies might be more effective in changing behaviour.