Leveraging Your Social Circle to Accelerate Weight Loss Habits [WIP]

JragonTree

I was fortunate to have lots of support from friends and family during my weight loss journey. Some have been great motivators and unofficial accountability partners. There were also those who weren't.

This community itself have helped me a lot, even though I'm a big lurker who doesn't post often - haha.

I'm thinking of writing a post about it to help others but not sure if it'll be useful. Would anyone be interested in reading more on any topics below?

• The Most Harmful Mistake I Made - doing it alone or in secret
• Ways You're Already Using Your Social Circle
• How To Pick An Accountability Partner
• Don't have a social circle? How to Create a Social Circle to help you
• Scripts for Asking For Help Without Embarrassing Yourself
• How to Talk About It without coming off as that annoying fitness person or sound like you're bragging
• How to Respond When People Follow Up & Ask About Your Progress
• Motivational Speeches - great for those downtimes

...and anything else you think I'm missing?

PKM0515

These seem like good topics for a My Fitness Pal blog or perhaps a group. Have you thought about starting one?

Congratulations on your success!

JeromeBarry1

I've been at this only a little less than 2 years, so I think of myself as a noob. When I started, I talked and talked and talked about it at my workplace, and several people decided to give it a try if big old Jerome is so excited about it. One of those who already had mfp on her phone was a young wife and mother of 3 who decided to try once more to get those last 12 lb off. I haven't seen her checking in for several months but she does post photos on facebook so I can see that she's still doing great. Anyway, her 2-month journey involved transforming her pantry into an optimum source of healthy foods, and transforming her life into one of physical activity. As each of these transformations accompanied the typical ups and downs of fluctuating weight in a woman, she and I frequently talked. We talked about the things she was changing, doing, and dealing with in her family. We talked about her weight loss frustrations. I think I consistently urged her to "stay on the plan", "get all your macros", "be patient". One sweet day, she reached her goal. I do think that I was a key part of her success. Since then she's continued to transform, not only herself but her whole family, as her mother, husband, and children are all on board with her 'great health through better eating' lifestyle change. Another was a young father with much excess baggage who struggled to make progress for a whole year. I made the intentional point of visiting him occasionally to discuss his efforts and the issues he was dealing with in his large, hospitable, food sharing family. One day it occurred to me that everything I was doing wasn't working for him, so I had to think outside my little box. I suggested to him that he 'use a smaller plate'. Was that the secret to his success? Maybe. At that point he'd lost 20 lb in a year. As of today he's lost another ~50 lb since then.

Use your social network, but be used, too.

kommodevaran

I don't have much of a social network, but anyway, I tend to only discuss nutrition and fitness online. Struggling with my weight for 20-30 years, and now not struggling at all (because I finally understood how simple and easy it really is, and how hard we can make it if we set our mind to it), has made me quite enthusiastic and a bit relentless when I discuss those topics. This leads to some pushback.

I would consider buying the book "How to Talk About It without coming off as that annoying fitness person or sound like you're bragging"

JragonTree

@SaraKim17 Thank you! Mmm, I haven't thought about it, but I will now~

@JeromeBarry1 Yes, exactly. Being used by your social network is the next thing. Give and take relationships. If I understanding it correctly, that's what networking is all about too. You're looking to help people.

@kommodevaran Oh, wow, congratulations! It's tough when we want to share our success and HOW wonderful that change is and trying to help others in the same way. I like to disperse my enthusiasm over multiple friends (so one friend would get 1 rant while the other would get another), so it means no one friend is overwhelmed with the topic all the time.