One Positive About Being Negative

Want to lose weight? Cut down on your optimism, scientists say.

A study done by Japanese researchers found that being too optimistic hurts your ability to stick to a diet, while negative emotions actually can help.

A team led by Hitomi Saito of Japan’s Doshisha University followed clinically obese patients in a hospital weight loss program for six months. Using questionnaires, the team psychologically profiled 101 patients.

Their findings: Those who were most gloomy at the start (labelled the “adult” or “A” personality group) were more likely to have lost weight, while patients who started out optimistic (the “free child” or FC group) were not as successful.

"This result supports previous findings that some negative emotion has a positive effect on behaviour modification because patients care more about their disease," the researchers wrote in the journal BioPsychoSocial Medicine.

Why wasn’t weight loss a piece of cake for the fat and happy group?

The scientists wrote in BioPsychoSocial Medicine: "The positive aspects of the FC ego state involve controlling negative emotion and are related to the ability to look on the bright side and do things in one's own style, while the negative aspects are not caring about disease and giving in to temptation because of optimism, as well as instinctive and impulsive behaviours."

Translation: They were perfectly happy with themselves even with the extra pounds, so didn’t worry too much about breaking their diets – so they jumped off the wagon more often, and lost less weight.

That’s the way the cookie crumbles.

Photo courtesy BiggiFraley via Flickr.