#190 - Find Active Friends: Health Tips For Weight Loss
Weight loss tip number 80 is for dieters who are just getting started. Coach Tadris Parker has personally tested this recommendation and a hundred other health tips commonly shared in the running and fitness world. Listen to the audio clip below to hear his take on why you should find active friends. Learn all about this at Keep Calm and Run To The Best You!
If your friends go out to eat a lot and have hobbies that don’t accommodate your goals, recruit some people who you can meet with for healthy activities. Join a running club or other group to help you stay focused and gain authentic support.
Tip 80. Find Active Friends (weight loss)
Family and friends will have an impact on your weight. We could call it peer pressure or the power of influence. Even though we usually attach the term to teenagers, your friend group will have an effect on you at any age. If you want to live a healthy lifestyle and keep a routine of running, exercise, and intermittent fasting, you must be intentional about the people you surround yourself with.
Friend groups link to weight loss
So, how exactly do your friends relate to your weight? Beyond the common knowledge we have on this subject, let’s look at the data to develop a scientific understanding on peer pressure:
Walter Willett, the chair of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health, speaks with authority on this subject. Walter Willett is one of the most quoted dietary experts in the country. The Boston Globe called him the world’s most influential nutritionist. He states that the people closest to you can affect your efforts to lose weight in a positive (or negative) way.
In an interview about his book called Thinfluence, Willett notes that friends and associates can sabotage your weight loss journey by promoting bad eating habits or inactive lifestyles. The book explores how social networks, family, media, entertainment, and other aspects of the environment affect body weight. Based on Walter Wilett’s research, a person’s chance of becoming obese increases by 57% if a close friend is obese, 40% if a sibling is obese, and 37% if a spouse is obese.
Here is a direct quote from Walter Willett: “Obesity is ‘contagious’ but physical activity and healthy eating are, too... Invite friends to join you for a walk or for an evening of cooking healthy foods. Bring your friends along in a positive way. That is the ultimate goal.”
Enhance the accountability and the fun
Spending time and focusing on active friends will increase your follow-through automatically. That’s because you gain accountability and encouragement when you have like-minded friends. Not to mention, they will have great ideas and suggestions to help you get healthy and lose weight. The best part is that your time with active friends can easily be spent working out or eating clean. Here are some ideas on how to engage with active friends:
Take daily walks with the dog (a dog is a friend in its own right!)
Listen to health-focused podcasts together like the one by Coach Tadris
Share online articles and information about health and fitness
Sign up for a 5K or half marathon and train for it together
Go grocery shopping together to keep each other’s purchases on track
Maintain a conversation while running (the “talk test”)
Practice food freedom - “Delay, don’t deny” instead of regularly eating at restaurants
Go on a diet together and hold each other accountable
Find active friends at Keep Calm and Run To The Best You!
Coach Tadris Parker is a great friend and his group at Keep Calm And Run To The Best You is an absolutely beautiful network for locals and those connecting virtually. If you could use a new group of friends to join you on your health and exercise routine, you’re going to love connecting with our group. We will join you, uplift you, and encourage you every step of the way - and we’re a lot of fun!
Keep Calm and Run To The Best You is headed up by Coach Tadris, but several of our members have been involved for nearly a decade. We also have a few brand new members who joined us this month so you will be in good company no matter what! We welcome new members every season to join our local running events in southern New Jersey or compete in fitness challenges, or get coached on how to lose weight with intermittent fasting.
Email Tadris Parker at coachtadris@gmail.com or send a message online if you could use an active friend in your life. Increase your chance of weight loss success by getting connected with the right group of friends at Keep Calm and Run To The Best You!
At Keep Calm and Run To The Best You, we are actively helping people from all walks of life to get healthier and happier in the body they’ve got! We’ve collected advice from professionals, combed through archives, and gathered insights from our group members. Click here to see the rest of our 101 health tips about running, intermittent fasting, and weight loss.
Find support and accountability at Run/Walk Club
Coach Tadris Parker educates and motivates people at all levels of intermittent fasting and mindful eating.
Email coachtadris@gmail.com with questions about our Run/Walk Club, running events, or health programs.
Get support and accountability on your journey to better health in a casual and fun setting: Join the Run/Walk Club!