The Impart of Social Support on Weight Loss

In addition to you exercise and calories restriction, when your family and friends support your plan to lose weight, then you have a better chance for success.  It has been shown by University of Pittsburgh researchers that those who start a weight loss program with their family and friends tend to lose more weight that those doing it on their own. The study was conducted with 166 people, out of which 66percent were able to lose weight successfully with their family and friends, unlike the other 24 percent.

This is because of the support that can come from friends. When you and your friend participate in a diet of exercise program, the bond of friendship is greatly strengthened. As suggested by Dr Madelyn Fernstrom from American College of Nutrition, one way of overcoming discouragement is to find someone who can motivate you at such times. In her words, “support from a diet buddy is key to long term success”.

There are a lot of benefits that the dieter can gain from social support. According to John Sheridan, a professor of oral biology and molecular virology/immunology at Ohio State University, people who are not good at socializing are the ones that often fall sick and have trouble recovering. Ohio State University Research News published an article in July 31, 1998 where Sheridan pointed out the cellular effect of emotional support, which helps our body to better resist stress.

Similarly, people who have support from family and friends have few cases of cancer pain, or chest pain after coronary artery bypass surgery. They also take less pain medication. For the pregnant women, they have fewer labor pains and are less likely to need anesthesia during childbirth.

Where can you Find Support?

It is not difficult to find people who can motivate or support you. The first place you should look is among your family, neighbors or colleague. These people are perfect to support your desire for a healthy life. Dr Robert Kushner who is a professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine has noted that people who engaged in diets with their dogs were able to lose weight, as compared to those without dogs. Even the dogs were seen to lose weight, and this is perhaps good news for man’s best friend.

Another effective way to motivate yourself in succeeding in your weigh loss goal is to join an online program or community support group. Researchers at the New York Medical Center conducted a 2 year clinical trial for weight loss where participants were randomly assigned to support groups or self-help method. At the end of the trial, it was seen that those who were part of the support group had lost more weight than the others. It was observed that because of their attendance at the meetings, they were able to loss more weight. A review of commercial weight-loss programs in the United States also cited these findings to support the importance of support groups to achieving lasting success. Indeed, the guarantee of getting better results in your weight loss program is highly dependent on your social support system.

What should you watch out for?

Even though it helps to get the support of your friends, you should careful watch for those who may envy your progress. You can easily spot these kinds of friends because they are prone to complain about their failures each time you mention your success. These types of friends are unhealthy and should be avoided. Also you should avoid friends who encourage toy to celebrate your success by breaking your diet, or shame you as a way of motivating you. You are more likely to pick up on over-eating again if you feel ashamed.

In conclusion, it is obvious that for you to lose weight successfully, you need to have a good social support system. When family or friends, or even an online community supports your diet efforts, you are more likely to make significant progress. Therefore, to lose those extra pounds and live a long healthy life, what you need may just be good social support. We wish you all the best in your goal.