This study was to describe the process of healthy dieting and develop a substantive theory that explains lifestyle in obese male college students.

The participants were 11 students who had participated in self-dieting program in a health center. Data were collected with in-depth interviews and analyzed by grounded theory in Strauss and Corbin (1990).

Through analyzing process, 36 concepts, 18 subcategories, and nine categories were deduced. In axial coding, casual condition, ‘shrinking themselves’ and ‘oriented to selfish lifestyle’, context condition, ‘distress in mutual understanding’ impacted on phenomenon, ‘making health with autonomous living pattern’. Intervening conditions were ‘practicing with active measures’ and ‘growing the willpower’ and action-interaction condition, ‘devoting realistic plan with positiveness’ totally lead to consequence in ‘regaining social relationship’ and ‘pursuing harmonious sound of mind and body’. The periods of process were divided four stages, reflecting self-characteristics, situational copping phase, applying period realistic strategies, and developing phase of social relationship. The core category, ‘developing communication competency’ incorporated the relationship between and among all categories and explained the process.

The findings indicate that self leading health program helped to develop the communication competency. Therefore, we would consider about internalized motives and external incentives in health programs.