When it comes to receiving weight loss support, my wife has certainly delivered the goods. She listens to my many countless rants, raves, and struggles and continuously congratulates and praises me on my weight loss. More importantly, she makes sure I don’t deviate from my new, healthy lifestyle.
There are a few ways you can receive (or give) weight loss support.
Limiting Food Temptations
It’s easy to eat healthy if you only have healthy food in your house — much like breaking a nicotine addiction by not having any cigarettes around, right?
If you’re single, you can dictate what food enters your house and make sure the M&Ms stay at the impulse aisle in the grocery store. And while I realize keeping unhealthy food out of the house doesn’t alleviate all temptations to eat like crap (you do leave the house, don’t you?), it certainly creates another barrier between you and your old, unhealthy eating lifestyle.
On the flip side, if you’re living with someone who doesn’t want to make the same sacrifices at the dinner table as you, you can find yourself navigating a diet while being surrounded by junk food 24/7. This is the case with me. While it would be nice if I had less temptations around the house, I do understand my wife and sister-in-law (currently living with us) not wanting to drastically change their lives as well. Honestly, I don’t really blame them.
Workout Buddies
Similar to a weight loss accountability partner, workout buddies are simply friends, family members, or even total strangers that you workout with on a daily or fairly routine basis. I don’t work out with any friends or family members at the gym myself, but I’ve made countless connections with other regulars at my gym, Better Body Fitness, in Elgin, SC.
These are people that I see for almost an hour a day almost every day of the week. I don’t talk with my workout buddies much (that’s not what I’m there to do, afterall) and I don’t know most of their names — but we all share the same goal. We’re all at the gym to do one thing, and that’s to be healthy — while it may not be a deep connection, it helps push me a little bit further every day knowing that other people are trying to do the same thing I am.
Compliments
Compliments are the fuel to this 5-month fire. I receive at least one compliment about my “new look” everyday and it makes me feel all giddy inside. I don’t think that feeling will ever go away. I’ve received compliments about my weight loss from waiters/waitresses we haven’t seen in a while, our FedEx delivery driver, account representatives (at work), neighbors, workout buddies, countless friends and family members, etc.
Do you know someone trying to lose weight? Give them a compliment today.
Even if you can’t provide weight loss support any other way, give them a little bit of praise — it’ll keep them from skipping the gym one day.
What are some other ways to provide weight loss support?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
You make great points about controlling what food is in the house. I’m a notorious cracker fiend. Forget the sweets, give me Ritz, give me triscuits, and give me wheat thins any day over something sugary. I have to not allow myself to buy them.
I’m currently interviewing for a regional consulting job, one where I would work from my home and travel. I’m scared about it, that I’m going to gain weight from being around the house. When I started my loss process, I found the best way to be burning calories instead of eating them is to be out of the house, and that included work. So if I do get this job, I’m going to have to put some restrictions on myself and develop some new habits.
Is your wife a gym buddy too?
She’s not. I go to the gym alone.
Tyler, have you asked your wife (with love and kindness) to support you and your child by banning junk food in the house? Even if she is one of those naturally thin people, it doesn’t benefit her health or your baby’s future health to eat anything that would be described as junk. Families that eat together stay together and the best way to instill positive eating habits on a child is through example. Ditto when it comes to fitness. Even if she hates the gym (my husband refuses to go) maybe you can walk together with baby in one of those fitness strollers? Encouragement and compliments are great but like it or not a married couple is in it together, including the household diet.
I’m with you 100% on the compliments. Nothing motivates better than that. It’s not so much that they’re saying something nice, but that when they say something, it means you’ve lost enough weight that it’s very noticeable. It’s great when you’re losing enough that it strikes people immediately. It’s the best kind of satisfaction–well, almost. (o: So let me say…YOU. LOOK. MAHHHHVELOUS, DAHLING.
Yeah, I’ll toss you another compliment…you’ve heard me say it before, but you look great. Such a hottie. :)
Yes, compliments are certainly great motivators. Also, this blog is motivation! You have many readers following your transition and I know that with so many people cheering you on, it would be difficult to let them down.