“Self Compassion” Could Be The Key to Weight Loss

One of the most difficult things to do is being kind to yourself. It’s so easy to show kindness towards others like your family and friends; and for many, towards complete strangers. I see that everyday here on MFP, everyone showing kindness to people who are basically complete strangers.

There is a new kind of psychology called “self-compassion” and the basis of this is being kind to yourself; giving yourself a break and learning to accept your imperfections. This could be the first step to better health. We live in a culture where many people believe that self-criticism is the best course of action for keeping ourselves in line. But is it?

To the surprise of many researchers, they discovered that those who find it easy to be supportive and understanding to others usually scored very low on self-compassion tests and more than likely considered themselves as “failures.” The University of Texas performed studies that found that people who score high on tests of self-compassion tend to be less depressed and anxious. They also showed a tendency to being more optimistic and happy. If your child is struggling in school would you sit there and watch him/her struggle? Of course not, you’d most likely hire a tutor for your child. When you’re the one struggling, or overeating, you’re more than likely to fall into a rut of harsh self-criticism and negativity. As we are all aware, this attitude can leave us all feeling unmotivated to take the steps to make the necessary changes we need to right ourselves again. How can the cycle of negativity be broken?

First, sit down and make a list of your best traits. It’s easy to list all the things you don’t like about yourself and could probably do that in your sleep. However, to take the time and think about all your positive traits takes time and thought which will allow you to appreciate and feel better about yourself. Hence, leading you on a path to a healthier you.

Finally, give yourself “compassion breaks.” DO NOT feel like a failure of you fall off the diet wagon or make a mistake. Instead, tell yourself that you are human and humans are not perfect. Remind yourself that you WILL NOT beat yourself up over your blunder and that tomorrow is another day; a day when you will do better.

I realize all this just sounds so warm and fuzzy but believe it or not, there is science to back this up. Self-compassion can help you lose weight. Participants in a study were asked to sample candy. Researchers conducting the study told half the participants that everyone in the study was eating junk food, so they should not feel bad about eating it. The results were surprising. It was found that the participants who were reassured had given themselves permission to eat, and actually ate less. The participants who received no reassurance ended up eating more. Why is this? They ate more because they felt guilty about eating the junk food causing them to eat more in order to try to make themselves feel better inside.