Photo: wakila / E+ / Getty Images
Here's Today's Feel-Good Story:
It is very common nowadays to struggle with losing weight and eating healthy. A new study of 140 overweight adults found that raised levels of self-compassion and kindness were linked to more positive feelings regarding a dietary relapse.
Those who practice self-kindness tend to feel less guilty about themselves despite a setback.
“Many people worry that self-compassion will cause complacency and lead them to settle for inadequacy, but this study is a great example of how self-compassion can help people be more successful in meeting their goals,” said Charlotte Hagerman, PhD, an assistant research professor in the College and lead author.
“The road to achieving difficult goals—especially weight loss—is paved with setbacks. Practicing self-compassion helps people cope with self-defeating thoughts and feelings in response to setbacks, so that they are less debilitated by them. In turn, they can more quickly resume pursuing their goals.”