Is it fun or exercise? The framing of physical activity biases subsequent snacking

Abstract

Do consumers eat more when they exercise more? If so, the implications could ripple through the multi-billion dollar fitness and food industries and have implications for both consumers and health-care providers. Three studies-two field experiments and one observational field study-triangulate on this potential compensatory mechanism between physical activity and food intake. The findings showed that when physical activity was perceived as fun (e.g., when it is labeled as a scenic walk rather than an exercise walk), people subsequently consume less dessert at mealtime and consume fewer hedonic snacks. A final observational field study during a competitive race showed that the more fun people rated the race as being, the less likely they were to compensate with a hedonic snack afterwards. Engaging in a physical activity seems to trigger the search for reward when individuals perceive it as exercise but not when they perceive it as fun. Key implications for the fitness industry and for health-care professionals are detailed along with the simple advice to consumers to make certain they make their physical activity routine fun in order to avoid compensation.

Licence to eat: Information on energy expended during exercise affects subsequent energy intake

“…These results complement previous exercise-labelling studies (Fenzl et al, 2014;Werle et al, 2014), which indicated that the way in which exercise is framed can influence subsequent EI. Werle and colleagues reported that less dessert and fewer hedonic snacks were consumed following a walk when it was labelled as fun rather than exercise.…”

“…No significant effects were observed regarding orange juice, despite it being a sweet item. This may reflect the food and drink items being viewed differently in terms of reward, although this would not explain the effect demonstrated for cola in previous research (Werle et al, 2014). Alternatively, orange juice may have been viewed as more utilitarian and consequently less rewarding for exercise, whereas cola was perceived as more hedonic.…”

“…Specifically, the current study aims to explore whether the way in which exercise is framed influences subsequent EI. Two recent studies have investigated this by framing exercise in qualitatively distinct ways (Fenzl, Bartsch, & Koenigstorfer, 2014;Werle, Wansink, & Payne, 2014). Participants in Werle and colleagues' study consumed less dessert and fewer hedonic snacks when a walk was framed as fun rather than exercise.…”

Exhibitionist Eating: Who Wins Eating Competitions?

“…A larger sample size is needed to determine if this difference was in fact due to gender or rather to individual personality traits of the participants, such as self-consciousness. Moreover, it may be that spectators cued to mind the competitiveness of athleticism, which has been shown to lead to exaggerated eating in the case of males watching exercise ads (28), thinking about exercising (29), or in reframing an activity as exercise or as a competition rather than as fun or as an adventure (30). …”

Sadly, you made me earn it: The effect of responsibility attributions for sadness on food indulgence

“…Indeed, when Cavanaugh (2014) focused people on relationships they failed to achieve (vs. relationships they possessed), people felt less deserving and were less likely to choose high-end brands. Deservingness may similarly have played a role in Werle, Wansink, and Payne's (2015) finding that partaking in a physical activity framed as an exercise rather than as fun causes people to choose more hedonic food for subsequent consumption. In the context of sadness, too, Wood, Heimpel, Manwell, and Whittington (2009) found that people are motivated to engage in mood repair only if they feel deserving (e.g., due to high self-esteem).…”