Jim Rohn, inspirational author and speaker, said "You are the average of the five people you spend most time with."  Who are you spending time with?

Over the past few months you have received articles with information to help you live a Healthier life.  From your feedback, I know that you have made changes to the way you think about your health and wellbeing.

You are choosing to live your life in a different way.  You are choosing to buy and to prepare and to eat healthy foods.  When you eat you are mindful of the way you are eating. 

You find time every day for movement that makes you feel good and contributes to your feeling of well being.  Your home and your work environment have been cleared of all the foods that you no longer want to eat.

Now, what about the people in your life?  Although some people may try to sabotage your efforts, others will be a great help.   You may belong to a group like Overeaters Anonymous or attend Weight Watchers meetings or some other group that gives mutual support and encouragement.  Not everyone is comfortable with talking about their weight in front of strangers. 

The most helpful support can come from the people who are important in your life – your friends and family.  Studies demonstrate that participants in a weight loss program who were recruited with three friends or family are significantly more likely to stay with the program and maintain their weight loss in the long term.

Working with a partner can be a great help to increase motivation for weight loss; sharing successes will keep you going when your enthusiasm is waning.  If you set up an agreement with your weight loss partner, they will be able to gently confront you, or maybe not so gently, when you might be tempted to make excuses or failing to follow your plan. 

There is amazing power in this relationship especially if you are feeling discouraged because you know you will let your partner down if you give up while they keep going.

Further to this, I work with clients to develop the strength in the relationship with their selves so that the prospect of letting their self down is sufficient to keep them on track.  It is useful to start with a buddy.

We see this in the latest “Biggest Loser Couples”.  When Biggest Loser started, it was for individuals, now all the shows are about couple.

You may want to choose a weight loss buddy; perhaps think about the people you know who want to lose weight and be healthier.  Find some one with a positive outlook; some one you could be excited for when they start to lose weight.  Ask them if they would like to be your weight loss buddy.  This could be a family member but might well be some one you do not know very well.

The other people who are important in your Support Group are the people you spend most time with; family, friends, work colleagues. 

Are there people who say “oh, you don’t need to lose weight; you are just fine the way you are – here have a piece of cake” or similar?

Some times it is easier not to say anything about trying to lose weight.  Just quietly go about making your necessary changes.  As I have said in other articles people often don’t notice what other people are eating.  It is only when people talk about it that it draws attention to difference.  The thing is, when you make a decision to change, you hold a mirror up to other people around you. 

For some people just by you choosing to eat in a healthy way and start exercising, this challenges them, says to them “you need to do this as well”.  While we might not actually say this to anyone, it can be confronting to them.  They see you as strong and their selves as weak and so may try to “tempt” you from your resolve, or may outright challenge you.

Many of us have wonderfully supportive families and friends, thank goodness and it is even better when we all eat in a similar way.  And one of the joys for me with my family and friends, we enjoy our treats together.  

Most recent treat – that new Magnum sandwich that is on every bus shelter in Sydney; the verdict – delicious !!  However, I think I like the original Magnum best.