Does self-compassion help to deal with dietary lapses among overweight and obese adults who pursue weight-loss goals?

Objectives: Self-compassion can facilitate self-improvement motivation. We examined the effects of self-compassion in response to dietary lapses on outcomes relevant to weight-loss strivings using a longitudinal design. The indirect effects of self-compassion via guilt and shame were also explored. 

Design: An Ecological Momentary Assessment methodology was employed with a sample of adults who were overweight or obese attempting to lose weight via dietary restriction (N = 56; M_age = 34.88; SD = 13.93; M_BMI = 32.50; SD = 6.88) and who responded to brief surveys sent to their mobile phones twice daily for two weeks. 

Methods: Dietary temptations and lapses were assessed at each diary entry, and self-compassion in response to dietary lapses, intention to continue dieting, weight-loss-related self-efficacy, negative reactions to the lapse, and self-conscious emotions were surveyed on occasions when participants reported having experienced a dietary lapse. The participants were also weighed in a laboratory prior to the EMA phase and via self-report straight after the EMA phase. Weight was measured again in the laboratory 12 weeks after the EMA period. 

Results: Bayesian multilevel path analyses showed that self-compassion did not predict weight loss. However, at the within-person level, self-compassion was positively related to intentions and self-efficacy to continue dieting, and negatively related to negative affective reactions to the lapses. Guilt mediated the associations of self-compassion with intention, self-efficacy, and negative reactions. 

Conclusion: Self-compassion may be a powerful internal resource to cultivate when dieters experience inevitable setbacks during weight-loss strivings which could facilitate weight-loss perseverance.