Weight loss aided by social support

Weight loss is tough and you can’t always do it on your own. In recent years, the value of group support – both online and face-to-face – has been highlighted for successful weight loss. A new study shows that the intense support and involvement of friends and family can help speed up the weight loss process.

A team at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, devised a program called SHARE (Supporting Healthy Activity and eating Right Everyday) which is a culturally specific weight loss program. The participants were African American women or men who enrolled either on their own or with one or two family and friends. The trial ran for two years and the target was to get to 5-10% weight loss.

The program covered counseling, self-monitoring, use of pedometers, group sessions involving weight and activity checks and skill building, and group gym visits and cooking demonstrations. A total of 63 individuals enrolled alone and 130 with friends or partners (151 of these). Those attending with a support partner were further divided into two groups – high support, where the partner shared everything, and low support, where some activities were engaged in alone. Progress was measured at six, 12, 18 and 24 months. After 24 months, main participants – with or without partners – lost an average of five pounds. Those in the support groups had better attendance and better weight loss than those attending alone, but these differences were not significant.

However, those whose partners attended the more personally tailored counseling lost more weight at six months. And those whose partner lost at least 5% body weight had more weight loss than those whose partners lost less than this. In other words, losing weight as a team – husband and wife, say – is motivating and can boost your success.

Source

Kumanyika SK et al Trial of family and friend support for weight loss in African American adults Archives of Internal Medicine October 26 2009; 169:1795-1804