To lose weight you must be dedicated and persistent, and have support from others. The dedication often arises from the intrinsic need to achieve a healthier life, the persistence derives from an understanding of the commitment required to lose weight and the support comes from our friends and family rooting for us too succeed. What you say to someone losing weight can have a tremendous effect on his ability to reach his fitness goals.
The Importance of Social Support
Exercise is a challenging task for the body and mind. As our body experiences physical fatigue, so does our mind. When our mind experiences mental fatigue, we become discouraged and doubt our ability to successfully reach our fitness goals. Social support is verbal or nonverbal positive reinforcement from friends and family. This positive reinforcement aids the exerciser in staying focused on their goals and helps to reduce discouragement.
Mental Fatigue
In 2005, the authors of "Coaching for the Inner Edge" revealed that we are limited by our own perceptions. When we suffer from mental fatigue, our perceptions are often distorted. Instead of focusing on rational thoughts, we are more reactive, causing us to throw in the towel if we "cheated" on our diet by having a cookie at the office or if we missed a workout session. These negative inner thoughts become a significant barrier in our efforts to lose weight.
The Power of Support
Since the 1990s, exercise researchers have agreed that social support plays a large role in motivating exercisers to adhere to an exercise program. In the 1997 edition of the British Journal of Health Psychology, researchers identified that social affiliation is another strong predictor of exercise motivation and persistence.
What You Can Say
Make positive comments about the person's dedication, progress and observable changes in aesthetics, strength, energy and mood. Positive words of encouragement such as "You're doing a great job," "You look great," "Looks like you lost a few pounds" and "I can see you've been working out" can be valuable for a person losing weight.
What You Can Do
Offer to join your friend for a run, a fitness class, a healthful lunch and even a workout. Your presence at these events can make her feel more comfortable and it can even make the experience more pleasurable for her. If you have experience lifting weights or with a particular leisure activity such as 5K runs, swimming, yoga or even dancing you can invite your friend to join you. Introducing new types of fitness activities into a weight loss routine can help shake things up. This will make the workout more fun and help prevent plateaus.
References
- "Applied Exercise Psychology"; Mark H. Anshel; 2006
- "British Journal of Health Psychology"; The measurement of exercise motives: Factorial validity and invariance across gender of a revised Exercise Motivation Inventory; D Markland and D Ingledew; Issue 2; 1997
- "Coaching for the Inner Edge"; Robin S. Vealey; 2005
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