How to Support a Loved One During Their Weight Loss Program

The statistics regarding weight loss successes and failures are legion and varied, but they all have one thing in common: losing weight, and keeping the weight off for any significant length of time is very difficult, and if some statistics are to be believed, almost impossible to achieve. If people who need to lose weight fully informed themselves of the long term success rate of any particular method, the odds are good that they would simply give up before even starting and save themselves the trouble!

Fortunately, statistics, as daunting as they may be, are just numbers. Being overweight or obese is a grave health risk, as bad as or worse than smoking cigarettes. Overweight persons are significantly more at risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia, as well as some forms of cancers. Faced with this reality, it is often better to forget the statistics, take a deep breath and go for it!

For people whose close friends or family member must deal with this issue, it is imperative to be there for them, supporting them in as efficiently and effective a way as possible. There are ways to do this; people normally don’t enjoy being told how to live their lives, so support and encouragement should never be overbearing or nagging.

Maintain a Positive Outlook – It doesn’t matter if the successes are not quickly apparent. Never lose your optimism about your friend’s eventual success. If you believe they can do it, they will come around to believing it, too.

Temporary Failures Happen: Don’t Judge – A judgmental attitude is one of the worst turn-offs possible when dealing with weight loss. No ones likes feeling judged; imposing it on your friends as they try to lose weight is not doing them a favor, to the contrary.

Lead by Example – The single most important thing to master, if one is to permanently lose weight, is the change from an unhealthy lifestyle to a healthy one. A healthy lifestyle combines a balanced diet, few if any processed foods and a healthy dose of exercise. Involve yourself in your friend’s diet by making the changes to your lifestyle as well, as well as by immersing yourself in his or her activities. Even you don’t need the extra exercise, if your diet is already excellent, lead by example by showing your friend how it’s done.

Make Healthy Activities Happen – It’s easy to lead a healthy and active lifestyle, if you already have it! If you don’t, it is a lot harder. Your friend may not even know where to start. Take the guesswork out of it, and organize activities that you can both enjoy; it can be anywhere from a daily walk, a bike ride or anything physical – a visit to a museum – that get your friend up and moving. These can be construed either as incentive or reward, but they should eventually become routine and part and parcel of a new, healthier lifestyle.

Whatever happens, make your friend or family member understand that your friendship, or love, is not dependent on their weight: fat or skinny, they still have it. The changes they have to make to their lifestyles are for them alone, so that they can fully enjoy life without the handicap of obesity.