Deservingness theory indicates that positive outcomes following positive actions, or negative outcomes following negative actions, are generally perceived as deserved. This can be extended to judgements of self-deservingness, with implications for how individuals reflect on outcomes relative to their own actions. Judgement of deservingness can be impacted by factors such as perceived effort. In health service delivery, consumer effort in value co-creation has been shown to impact outcomes, satisfaction and future intentions. How consumers form judgement about self-deservingness in relation to their own effort and the impact of their assessed self-deservingness is examined. Data are derived from interviews with 14 commercial weight-loss program users. Findings indicate the relevance of self-deservingness as a mediating variable between outcomes and consumer satisfaction. The study is the first known investigation of deservingness theory in marketing at the level of consumers’ self-judgement. The conceptual model arising from the study can be applied practically in marketing management to improve customer-brand relationships with potential for further empirical study.