Research
Adherence
Lower time discounting is associated with greater success in weight loss and weight maintenance interventions.
If you struggle to stick to a diet, your brain might be prioritizing immediate food rewards over future health goals. Standard advice might not work for you. Try breaking goals into smaller, immediate rewards and focus on making healthy choices the path of least resistance.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Experimental studies indicated that lower time discounting was associated with greater weight loss.
Why this rating
Based on a small number of experimental studies (3 cited) with varying sample sizes and designs.
Source
Unhealthy diets, obesity and time discounting: a systematic literature review and network analysis
Pepita Barlow et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2016
DOI 10.1111/obr.12431
systematic_reviewCited 183×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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