What Are the Benefits of Weight Loss Support Groups?

It is not easy to lose weight. And it may be even harder if you are doing it alone. Organizations such as Weight Watchers are well aware of this. The Weight Watchers website says, "People who attend meetings are three times more likely to lose weight than those who go it alone." Weight Watchers has been in business since the 1960s and is continuing to enjoy great success, so it seems they know what they are talking about.

Facts

• A weight loss support group can take various shapes. It can be one that has weekly meetings such as Weight Watchers. It can be an online forum in which you meet people with similar challenges, or it can simply be your friends and family. It seems the groups with meetings work especially well. A study done at the Rippe Lifestyle Institute tested the effectiveness of Weight Watchers meetings. It found that "those who attended the most meetings had significantly greater weight loss and decreases in waist circumference (a measure used to assess abdominal fat) compared to those who attended infrequently."

Benefits

• Being in a weight loss support group has many benefits. For example, a study done by Agricultural Research Service nutrition scientists concluded that "dieters who have the help of a support group may experience less stress and less brainpower drain than those who go it alone."
  Your support group does not have to be big, and it does not have to be formal to be successful. In fact, informal can be good, as it may lessen the pressure of having to lose a certain amount of weight every week. You can just hook up with a couple of friends who are as serious about losing weight as you are. When you are in a small group it becomes more intimate, and you may even stay in touch over the phone every day to motivate each other. According to the ARS study, the extra stress and reduced brain power due to lack of support during a weight loss effort may cause a dieter to abandon her efforts altogether.