Weight Loss Journey

4 Ways You Could Be Hurting Your Friend’s Weight Loss Journey

Going through a weight loss journey is difficult—you have to be strong, confident, driven, focused and diligent.  But a weight loss journey can be even harder when friends and family are unsupportive.  Without a strong support system, your chances to losing weight or getting fit diminish quite dramatically.

We’re warning you: not all friends and family are going to be supportive of your decision to lose weight.  Some may become jealous, others concerned and yet others just want to see you let loose and scarf down a cheeseburger at 3:00 in the morning with them.  But the relationship between a dieter and their friends and family is an extremely important one.

For those of you who have a friend, family member or loved one going through a weight loss journey, we encourage you to be supportive no matter what.  If you have a goal (whether it be a career goal, a financial goal or even a fitness goal), you want your friends to support you in it, right?  Then why not do the same for your friends and family who are trying to lose weight?

Beware!  Here are the 4 ways you could be hurting your friend’s weight loss journey:

1.  Gossip

Talking about a friend’s weight loss journey behind his or her back can actually be very frustrating for the dieter—and yes, they will almost always find out!!!  If you’re in the mood to gossip, don’t talk about how your “friend is anorexic” or that your friend “isn’t fun anymore because she doesn’t drink.”  If somebody asks about your friend’s weight loss journey, simply say that she is remaining strong and is extremely excited about the possibilities.  Keeping things vague is sometimes this best option.

Be sure to talk about your friend’s weight loss journey with them before they start the process (or very early on).  When the dieter provides guidelines for you, you will know how much you can say and when you can say it (for example, your friend may not want people to know how much they weighed in the beginning, how high their body fat percentage is or what they eat on a daily basis).

2.  Peer pressure to eat and drink

Putting your friend in compromising situations can distract them from staying true to their weight loss goals.  Don’t invite your dieting friend to happy hours, unhealthy restaurants or the Beer Olympics if they are not ready to be surrounded by fattening food and alcoholic beverages.  But that doesn’t mean you will stop hanging out with your friend all together!  If your friend wants to go out to eat, suggest a delicious healthy restaurant that the two of you could walk to.  He or she will appreciate it!!!

Secondly, don’t feel as if your friend has lost their “fun” when they’re going through a body transformation.  Sure, the dieter may not be able to drink excessively and indulge in pizza parties with you, but they are still able to do fun activities like go ice skating, hiking, bike riding, tailgating, swimming and tons of other fun activities!!

The one thing to never, ever say to a friend undergoing a body transformation?  “It’s just one night!!” One night of heavy drinking or fattening foods can completely throw off a transformation…and it usually leads to other nights of the same excessiveness.

3.  Temptation

If you know that your dieting friend is coming over for dinner, there are many things you can do to keep temptations out of the way.  Here are just a few:

  • Cook a low-calorie meal (like salmon and asparagus)
  • Have plenty of bottled water on hand
  • Forgo appetizers
  • Don’t put out a bowl of candy or assorted nuts
  • Light candles with floral fragrances (rather than food fragrances)
  • Plan an activity

4.  Jealousy

There are many ways that we deal with weight loss jealousy. When our friends undergo a weight loss journey, we often feel as if we wish we could do the same, but we’re not quite ready or invested in the process.  Weight loss jealousy can build up when our friends continue to lose weight and feel great.  We handle this jealousy in a variety of ways—ignoring the weight loss and not congratulating our friends, making fun of the dieter, purposefully putting the dieter in tempting situations or simply getting mad at the dieter as they continue to lose weight.

When you feel the pang of weight loss jealousy creep in, keep a few things in mind:

  • The dieter is doing this for his or herself—not for you.  This is their decision and they’re working as hard as possible to succeed.  Remember when they were there for you when you were shooting for a goal?
  • Communicate with the person that is dieting.  When you’re open and honest about how the both of you are feeling, the jealousy factor may simply disappear.
  • If you’re feeling extremely jealous of your friend’s weight loss journey, maybe it’s time for YOU to explore a weight loss option, too!! Start doing some research about the different ways to lose weight—such as our transformation programs, new healthy diets or cutting edge gyms near you.

If it weren’t for support systems like friends and family, we would not have the incredible weight loss stories to share with you today.  Keep in mind the top ways to encourage your friends during a weight loss journey and be the support system they need and love!!!