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.