Better Health & Fitness: How to Find a Support System — by Catherine Morgan
Having support could be a big help when you are starting a new weight-loss of fitness program. It’s been proven that people who have support from friends and family are much more likely to be successful at losing weight (and keeping it off). Support can come in many ways — but the best support is having one or more people who are actually on the journey with you. Do you have a friend or family member who also wants to lose weight? Maybe more than one? When you have others in your life that are also trying to accomplish the same thing you are, then you become each other’s support system. It also makes it easier to go out with friends when someone with you is also going to order the healthy choice. Or you can plan dinners out with just your healthy eating buddies.
Also, when it comes to support, we are now living in the wonderful world of online companionship. There are many online communities that are especially for people trying to lose weight, exercise, or just live healthier. These communities are great for people who don’t have someone in their home-life supporting and encouraging them…But it’s also good for anyone as an additional sounding board of support and accountability. Here are a few examples of where you can find online support…
For starters, we all know about Facebook. You may or may not want to share your weight-loss goals with your Facebook friends, but if you do, many of them can become a daily support system. You may even find that you have many Facebook friends who want to join you and jump on the healthy bandwagon with you.
Don’t forget, there are also all of the Facebook groups… [So, I just Goggled “Facebook Weight Loss Groups” and there are over 116,000,000 results].
But, if you would rather go another route than Facebook, here are a few social media sites that I am familiar with, that you might want to give a try…
- actually has many health-based communities — This is their community.
- SparkPeople is a community of people trying to live healthier and happier lives
- LifeKraze a web-based social networking service where users create a profile, share accomplishments with their friends, and can be rewarded and reward other users for living an engaged, healthy, and active lifestyle.
- is an open community for everyone that is looking to get fit, lose fat, and live happy!
Of course, these aren’t the only games in town. With a little bit of searching online, you can probably find many more.
*Coming in November, my book . For a pre-release offer to get the book for $1, go to the website and sign-up with just your email address.