This document provides an overview and summary of the report "Weight Management: U.S. Consumer Mindsets" published by Packaged Facts. The report examines weight management behaviors and attitudes of Americans, drawing on consumer surveys. It finds that nearly 100 million Americans actively try to lose or maintain their weight. The report highlights growing trends toward managing snacking habits instead of strict dieting, and increased use of mobile platforms for self-monitoring of health and weight. The report provides insights into demographic differences in dieting behaviors and changing consumer preferences regarding food products.

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Weight Management: U.S. Consumer Mindsets

2. Weight Management: U.S. Consumer Mindsets
Weight Management: U.S. Consumer Mindsets has been prepared by Packaged Facts. We serve consumer
product and service companies and allied businesses in the United States and internationally with a complete line
of research publications.
Packaged Facts market intelligence reports are designed to aid the executive decision-maker by providing
essential data and concise analysis with a focus on marketplace trends, consumer insights, and emerging
opportunities.
Vice President of Publishing Don Montuori
Research Director and Publisher David Sprinkle
Author Washton Brown Associates
Publication Date August 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this report may be reproduced without permission of the publisher.
Copyright © 2014 Packaged Facts

3. REPORT ABSTRACT
The upward trend in obesity that has vexed public health officials for decades may have leveled out and the
healthy eating movement remains on the upswing. Still, nearly 100 million Americans are watching their diet to lose
weight or to maintain their current weight.
Successful weight management remains a tough and never-ending battle for many Americans trying to stay on a
traditional diet plan. The majority of overweight Americans find that the very idea of a strict diet poses an obstacle
to their weight loss desires. Most agree that they would like to lose weight but assert that they find it too hard to
stick to a strict diet plan or eating strategy.
Moreover, dieters trying to stick to their current diet plan or eating strategy face challenges from all sides,
especially from the temptation posed by foods they crave but aren’t supposed to eat. As a result, a majority of
those on a diet plan have been on it for less than nine months.
Against this background, Weight Management: U.S. Consumer Mindsets takes an in-depth look at the
transformation that is now underway in the culture of weight management in America. Using data compiled
by Packaged Facts National Online Consumer Survey, the report digs deeply into the mindsets of consumers
immersed in managing their weight.
The report highlights a wide array of fundamental changes in how Americans view what needs or can be done
to lose or maintain weight. One trend highlighted by the report is the growing alignment of weight management
efforts with ongoing changes in contemporary American eating habits. Instead of controlling what they eat at
mealtimes, today’s consumers are much more likely to focus on changing their snacking habits in order to achieve
weight loss success, a practical and realistic strategy that reflects the increasing importance of
snacking in America today.
According to Packaged Facts survey data, only 32% of those following a diet plan or eating strategy try to lose
weight by eating in moderation at meals. More than twice as many (66%) say they limit how much they eat when
they snack, while 62% set boundaries on how often they snack.

4. REPORT ABSTRACT
Another aspect of today’s weight management culture is the increasing tendency of consumers to turn away from
formal diet plans imposed by outside authority and to conflate “dieting” with “healthy eating.” With the aid of mobile
platforms that enable consumers to monitor their health and track their weight management efforts, DIY dieters
increasingly embrace their own private healthy eating and exercise regimes as the path to weight loss
success.
Scope of the Report
In general, weight management is divided into two categories of consumer behavior: efforts to lose weight and
efforts to maintain weight. Simmons National Consumer Study (NCS) data used in the report specifically define
the two categories of consumers involved in weight management activities as follows: “those watching their diet
to maintain weight” and “those watching their diet to lose weight.” For the sake of convenience, when referring
to these Simmons NCS categories the report uses the terms “those on a weight maintenance diet” or “those
on a weight loss diet,” and can also refer to “weight losers” and “weight maintainers.” Weight losers are further
categorized as those who are 30 or more pounds overweight (or “significantly” overweight) and those who are not
30 or more pounds overweight. In referring to Packaged Facts National Online Consumer Survey data, the report
analyzes those who are taking steps to lose weight (“weight losers”). Weight losers are further divided into those
who are on a specific diet plan or eating strategy (or “weight loss dieters”) and those who are not.
Methodology
The consumer data in this report come from several sources. These include the Packaged Facts National Online
Consumer Survey conducted in July/August 2014. These surveys reflect a panel of 2,000 U.S. adults (age 18+)
that is balanced to the national population on the primary demographic measures of gender, age bracket, race/
ethnicity, geographic region, marital status, presence or absence of children in the household and household
income.

5. REPORT ABSTRACT
Another source is Simmons National Consumer Study (NCS) for Winter 2014 from Experian Marketing Services,
which was fielded from January 2013 through March 2014. (The report uses the Winter 2009 NCS in the case
of 5-year-trend tables and figures.) On an ongoing basis, Experian Marketing Services conducts booklet-based
surveys of a large and random sample of consumers (approximately 25,000 for each 12-month survey compilation)
who in aggregate represent a statistically accurate cross-section of the U.S. population.
Retail sales figures credited to IRI (Chicago, IL) are based on IRI aggregated multi-outlet (MULO) sales tracking,
which represents sales through U.S. supermarkets, drugstores (including Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid), mass
merchandisers (Walmart, Target, Kmart, and Shopko), warehouse clubs (Sam’s Club and BJ’s, but excluding
Costco), dollar stores (excluding Dollar Tree), and military commissaries.
The report is also based upon data collected from a wide range of industry sources, including company websites,
trade publications, business newspapers and magazines, consumer blogs and releases from public companies.

6. SAMPLE INSIGHTS & HIGHLIGHTS
• Nearly 100 million Americans, or 42% of the adult population, are now actively trying to lose weight or maintain
their current weight.
• Over the past five years, the number of people who are 30 or more pounds overweight and on a weight loss
diet grew from 16 million to nearly 18 million.
• Mobile platforms that enable DIY health monitoring and weight management pose a growing competitive threat
to traditional commercial diet programs as well as non-perscription weight loss aids.
• Men are fast becoming a significant segment of the population of those making an effort to maintain their
weight.
• Weight loss dieters are much more likely to agree that grocery manufacturers often mislead by highlighting only
the positive nutritional qualities in their products and not the negative ones.
• Compared to their overweight counterparts who are not on a diet, overweight adults on a diet are twice as likely
to be happy with the way they look.
• The highest priority for those taking steps to lose weight is to get control of their snacking habits. Eating smaller
or moderate portions at mealtimes is viewed as being much less important.
• Weight losers on a diet plan are more likely than other weight losers to usually eat three meals a day without
snacking between meals.
• Food shoppers on a weight loss diet are much more likely than food shoppers on average to buy their
groceries from retailers in the natural channel.
• Over the past five years dieters have turned away from low-fat/fat-free and reduced calorie types of packaged
foods and now increasingly favor “regular” types of a wide range of food products.
• Weight loss dieters are much more likely to agree that grocery manufacturers often mislead by highlighting only
the positive nutritional qualities in their products and not the negative ones.
• Adults in the 45-64 year old age group have a higher likelihood of dieting to lose weight. Those in the 65+ age
group are more likely to be dieting to maintain their weight.

7. SAMPLE INSIGHTS & HIGHLIGHTS
Percent Dieting to Lose and Maintain Weight,
18- to 34-Year-Olds vs. Adults 35 Years Old and Over, 2014
18-34
35+
% Dieting to Lose Weight % Dieting to Maintain Weight
0
10
20
30
40
21%
32%
11%
15%

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