How Your Horoscope Can Affect Your Weight (Seriously!)

Trying to lose weight? You may want to avoid consulting the stars. If your horoscope predicts a bummer of a day, you could end up eating more poorly, reveals a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Previous research has shown that about a third of Americans place serious stock in horoscopes—but not every astrology fanatic sees these predictions as being set in stone. This is what the researchers call “malleable fate,” the idea that you can, in fact, influence predetermined outcomes in your life. 

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To see whether beliefs about fate affect people's odds of gaining weight, the scientists recruited 180 shoppers and instructed them to plug their zodiac signs into a horoscope website. Regardless of their sign, study participants were told, "This is not a favorable day for you" and were then asked if they'd rather clean house (the virtuous option) or attend a party (the rebellious option). The outcome: People who believed in malleable fate were more likely to choose the party. 

A second study replicated this effect, but with food: Horoscope readers who thought they could alter their fate picked a chocolate granola bar instead of a healthy harvest one after learning the stars weren’t aligning for them.

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What’s going on? One theory: People may simply indulge in an attempt to compensate for the crappy day they think is coming—in other words, it’s a way to cope. 

Alternately, the scientists say, it could be because in anticipation of negative events, people attempt to change fate through positive thinking, which can ultimately deplete their willpower.

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