Day 12: Grow Your Weight-Loss Support Network | 30-Day Weight Loss-athon
It’s time for Day 12 of the 30-Day Weight Loss-athon.
All tasks in the 30-Day Weight Loss-athon are adapted from the 52 Weight Loss Missions program.
Read the steps first, then take 10 minutes to think about them and take action. Ready?
What You Need:
- A desire to share support.
Step 1
As well as the people already in your life, you may want to expand your weight-loss support network.
Did you know that people who use online support to motivate each other are less likely to give up on their exercise programs?
With 52 Weight Loss Missions, you have a built-in support network via the online check-ins and Facebook Page. You can always check in at one or both of these places to get encouragement, share ideas, tell of your successes, or enjoy the camaraderie with your mission-mates.
The great thing about having a weight-loss support network is that whether you give or receive, you gain.
Others can help you by sharing their tips and ideas, encouraging you, and patting you on the back when you do well.
But when you help others, it reinforces the things you’re learning and helps you crystallize your own discoveries – so helping others helps you, too.
Step 2
So let’s get some support!
Here are some ideas for upgrading your support network:
- Ask a friend if they’d like to be your exercise buddy
- Ask a friend if they’d like to do a healthy cooking course with you
- Work with a personal trainer – by yourself or in a small group
- Work with a nutritionist or dietician
- Join a gym or group fitness program, where you’ll meet others with similar goals
- Join or start a walking group at work
- Get some friends to share the 30-Day Weight Loss-athon journey with you:
Click here to Share on Facebook or Click here to Share on Twitter, or add a badge to your blog or website.
Check in!
And you’re done!
Be sure to leave your comment below to check in and stay accountable. If you’re reading this by email or in a reader then please click here to leave your comment.
See you tomorrow!
My son started exercising with me but after the birth of his new baby he hasn’t been able to. I’m glad we had that time to make it a habit and now it’s easier to keep on even when alone.
I just signed up for a women’s weight training class and group fitness classes at our gym. A wonderful group of women willing to help each other. I love it already!
I have a health coach & support groups online. I am still leery about having an exercise buddy, because with DD’s illnesses I have trouble being consistent.
I’ve got my walking buddy already enlisted and my son and I play some Just Dance Wii for some exercise too. Our local gym has a circuit training program I think I will look into joining that today!
A friend from church is a coach at teambeachbody.com and she has a small accountability group on Facebook that I’ve joined. Every day we need to check in and share our exercise for that day. She’s also on My Fitness Pal so she sees what I eat as well. 🙂
my partner comes on most walks, everyone at work knows what I am doing.. not sure they understand eating vegetables is normal but they ask how I am going.. group things are not my cup of tea but have online support specifically for weightloss both here and in another program I am doing.
I started going to the gym about 2 months ago with my husband. It has really helped me get back on track. Sure I could do a lot of the exercises at home, but something about going to the “Gym” motivates me. Anyway, he has been a great “cheerleader” on my journey to lose the baby pounds.
My wonderful support is my husband, my kids (although the younger ones do not understand yet), some great friends especially Bridget who is going to be walking with me because my treadmil finally kicked the bucket tonite. Oh and I cannot forget my mom, dad and my sister who keeps me going by telling my how great I look.
It’s difficult for me to work out friends because of my schedule. But I’m going to start walking daily to get the mail and take my kiddos with me. Round trip, it will be.8 miles! I’m also going to keep up checking in here….
Hello to everyone! I’m proud of all of you! Keep up the good work. Walking daily is a good exercise to lose weight. Having a walking buddy will keep you on track. Working out in a gym three times a week is also great. Please continue to post daily to stay accountable. Good Luck.
I already belong to a couple of facebook groups who are on the weight loss journey and it is good to share ideas with each other or if you are having a bad day they can put you back on track. I only exercise on my cross trainer because of my rheumatoid arthritis so don’t need to have an exercising buddy. Sometimes I just prefer my own company and my music, gives me some me time. My family is my other support network and this seems to be working for me at the moment.
Im not sure what to do about this one. I don’t live close enough to my friends to make this work. I can’t afford trainers, gyms, or group classes. So what should I do. I’ve done an online weight loss challeng through a private group on fb before. Anyone have suggestions for me. My mom and hubs or encouraging but I want someone who isn’t related to me.
This one is probably the hardest for me! I have tried to lose weght several times before and just am not at the point where I want to tell anyone besides my husband that I’m in it for the long haul and am commited to losing weight. I read all the comments on here and on facebook to encourage myself and that really helps. I need to put up my post-its frrom day 1~real motivation~back up I had taken them down cause I had a friend come over for the day. Reading those reminds my why I’m on this journey! Feel so motivated after typing this! Going to walk to the park with the kids! :o)
My husband wants to start exercising so we are going to take turns using the elliptical in the evenings while we watch a show together! It will keep us accountable and be fun to do together. 🙂 He’s always so supportive of me, I’m glad to support him too!
Thanks! I go to a gym usually 2-5 times a week, 25-60 minutes. I’m still doing the elliptical machine–25 min yesterday. I have two friends who will go to the gym with me. I feel like I’m already doing a lot of the things you suggest but I’ve been on a plateau for a year. I added Max Fit, more veggies, going to bed earlier, and cut out what little junk I was eating and still nothing. I’m bouncing on a 3 lbs up and down cycle. The doc on Base said my blood work is good–thyroid, blood sugar, etc. okay. Just my triglycerides are high. He said I’m stuck because I’m 46. I do think I’m starting to have symptoms of blood sugar issues even if it doesn’t show on the tests and I’ve been trying to eliminate it from all but my once daily coffee.
So I thought id spend an extra few minutes to write. This week has been really hectic, easter weekend was horrible dealing with my family, I was at emerg for most of the day on tuesday with head pains which is still bothering me, was gone all day wed for work, today I had a horrible dentist appt, I cant wait for this week to be over. anyway, so I haven’t done day 10 yet, cleaning the junk food out of my house, but we don’t really have a lot, I have done day 8 and 9 though, struggling with drinking more water and working out (mostly cause I’m not feeling the greatest), but I’m watching what I eat and I’m cutting food out. now heres the good news, when I went to emerge they had to weigh me and I lost 8lbs which made my day. plus this morning I tried on my old jeans and they fit, yay. I’m struggling but I’m starting to see results. I just gotta get thru this week and weekend.
This “mission” will prove to be the most challenging so far. I live in a very rural community and have a 40 mile commute to work. I am gone for roughly 12 hours a day and by the time I get home, it’s usually the time most families spend their together time so 99% of my friends are involved in that. The other 1% are elsewhere involved (already checked this out) so this is going to be a toughie. In my rural community, there are no gyms (closest being 10 miles in the opposite direction) and quite honestly by the time I get off work the last thing I want to do is extend my commute. My husband has said he will become my walking buddy and has so far enjoyed all the adjustments to our meals I’ve made. Also, as far as starting a walking group at work…besides working next to a busy highway, my co-workers mainly work in an area that provides them all the walking they want so, even this option isn’t viable.
I don’t have many local friends and trying to gain an online support system is really counter productive I have found. My lack of movement in my life is compounded by the fact that most of the people in my life I only talk to online. I love the internet so much I will just sit and wait for my friends to talk to me rather than do exercise. My husband is passively supportive, but he won’t talk to me about it.
Most of my friends are part of the “fat acceptance” movement so my efforts to lose weight are deemed as being self-hating, fat-shaming, rabid acceptance of white privileged standard beauty norms. I’ve tried to approach it from a place of wanting to be stronger and more energetic and less from a place of strictly patrolling what goes into my mouth. That seems to make it easier to live with.
Getting moving!
My kids are my exercise buddies.