The importance of social support
What is social support?
These are the people or groups in your life that can offer support to you with your lifestyle changes to improve your chances of success. This can be friends, family, or co-workers, or also formal groups for weight management support.
Evidence suggests that friends or coworkers may have greater influence than family in a supportive role, especially where a person’s family undermines efforts.
What are the benefits?
Appropriate support leads to greater success on your weight management plan. A social support system can act as:
- psychological support
- accountability support
- knowledge support
Some people choose a weight loss buddy. this is someone who is also aiming to manage their weight. Having a shared goal helps with motivating them.
DAILEY, R., ROMO, L., MYER, S., THOMAS, C., AGGARWAL, S., NORDBY, K., … DUNN, C. (2018). The Buddy Benefit: Increasing the Effectiveness of an Employee-Targeted Weight-Loss Program. Journal of Health Communication, 23(3), 272–280
Family / home support
It makes sense that our home life whether family or friends can play a huge role in our success. Many families choose to make lifestyle changes together. As families often experience weight issues together due to their shared lifestyles, this can benefit the whole family.
However, some members of the family or household may not be supportive. See below for more information.
how does social support work
The kind of social support a person needs depends on their individual circumstances and needs. This can include:
- exercise buddy
- support to mediate non-support or sabotaging friends or family
- work place support to battle temptations like junk food at work
- emotional support
- group environment for the shared experience
sabotage
It is an unfortunate fact that friends and family may consciously or subconsciously sabotage our weight management efforts.
Weight management efforts lead to change. Change in diet, lifestyle, and also personal change such as self confidence. This change can be daunting for our loved ones and can disrupt the status quo.
This can lead to undermining of healthy choices and lead to weight gain. A strong support network outside of home should be sought in this case, and therapy may be a good option to address family members emotions regarding your plans to lose weight.
https://www.surrey.ac.uk/news/sabotage-and-collusion-could-be-derailing-your-weight-loss-journey-finds-study