Two major & proven ways to fat loss success....

Today's post: Monday, 9-8-2008

Not long ago it was in the news that people who kept logs of what they eat lost more weight and that this was partly due to the fact that the study also had the participants keep logs of their exercise each week.

Weight Watchers is one of the programs that has tested to be effective in helping people lose weight. And, they do show those results in part because they have the people in their program keep logs of the food they eat.

Now it seems that research has confirmed that the other thing Weight Watchers does is also comparably effective. They provide social support for people who are working on losing weight.

Last Saturday, the email I got from Early to Rise had an article on this & what looks to be the start of an online forum for people trying to lose fat weight.

After I post it here I have some other comments.:

“This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

The Diet Secret You Probably Aren't Using

By Craig Ballantyne

The worst thing you can do when trying to lose weight is "go it alone." Support from your friends and family can help you eat better and exercise more.

Scientists at the University of Michigan studied 228 women in order to determine the connection between social support and the women's ability to eat well and exercise consistently. And though most of the subjects reported low to moderate social support, the more social support they received, the more physical activity they did and the better their nutrition was.

As a result of their lack of social support, most of the women didn't make improvements in their body composition during the study. But as my personal research shows, the more a person's friends and family support their efforts to lose fat through exercise and diet, the better their chances of success.

So grab a nutrition buddy at work, a workout partner at the gym or at home, and some online support at your favorite fitness website. These three valuable sources will help you lose inches and burn belly fat consistently.

[Ed. Note: It's true. Online support can be very helpful when it comes to reaching your fitness goals. Share your weight-loss struggles, diet and exercise techniques, and encouragement for free right here..... http://www.earlytorise.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=8404 ....]"

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One way to make this work is to be supportive to other people working to lose weight or exercise regularly. I’ve found that to work well with the people at the gym I go to and with my wife. It helps you whether you get any support back or not as it keeps you in a positive and supportive frame of mind & focusing on the benefits of eating right and exercising.

And, you often do get support back in return. That can sometimes be when you most need it.

Another way to make this work is to join Weight Watchers. I think they could be more proactive in teaching people how to eat right & avoid the worst foods than they do. And, I think they could be more proactive in teaching people how exercise & strength training can help as much as they do. Further I think that it can pay you to set goals with less of a reduction in intake than they do with more of a commitment to make that reduction permanent than I think they do.

But, they do effectively help people take in less calories by using logs of what you eat and give you social support extremely well.

If you need to get your fat loss program started or need help staying with it, they can be a valuable resource.

(As some of you have read here, I used their points system & eating log and set a goal that I thought would help me lose 10 pounds because I thought I could sustain that change. I didn’t go to their meetings but did keep up my regular exercise program. I was able to sustain the changes & did lose the 10 pounds. Since the changes were sustainable & I didn’t want the 10 pounds of fat back I did keep doing it. And, much to my great delight and surprise, I lost another 20 pounds.

It did help that I already exercised regularly and keep a log of my exercise each day and each week.)

So if you want to lose more fat weight than you have in addition to eating right and exercising, try adding & keeping up a food and an exercise log and add some effective social support.