Not all dieters are the same: Development of the Diet Balancing Scale

•Dieters can be categorized into two main types: balancers and abstainers.•Balancers strategically indulge, whereas abstainers stay away from any off-limit foods.•We develop the Diet Balancing Scale to identify these two types of dieters.•We test dieters’ attitudes toward ads with balancing vs. abstention taglines.