When Friends Aren’t Helping

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As the Beatles sang years ago, we all get by with a little help from our friends. Except this isn’t always the case when it comes to sticking with a weight loss meal plan. We tend to make friends that we have things in common with. Often, those commonalities include liking the same sort of food, or enjoying the same atmosphere in a restaurant. Social eaters tend to find each other, as it is a way to get to know another person around a shared love for food. Even if you stop and think about the coworkers you tend to spend the most time with, you may realize that lunch choices have a lot to do with your office-based relationships.

So what happens when one friend wants to start eating healthier, and the other friend isn’t quite on board? All too often the result is sabotage, but unfortunately it is something that many of us turn a blind eye to. After all, you don’t want to think that your friends are holding you back from achieving a healthier lifestyle.

Identifying Negative Influences in your Life

The people you surround yourself with will be crucial in ensuring that you are able to stay motivated and succeed in your diet plans. Being around people who are constantly negative and who don’t encourage you in ways that are helpful will weigh down on your personal motivation to stay on track.

Negative people aren’t always easy to spot. They may seem happy and positive, but deep down they are a metaphorical undertow, pulling you down into an abyss of negativity and lost weight loss goals.

Here are a few factors that define a negative friend, someone who may not be a good influence during your weight loss program:

  • They are not on board with your weight loss program, and may critique the program or not take it seriously.
  • They show little interest in bettering themselves, and so lose interest in conversations about your plans to get healthier.
  • They are not displaying any balance in their own life, and are unwilling to make any changes to their personal diet or exercise habits that may help them, too.

You don’t need to cut friends out of your life when they aren’t being supportive, but you don’t need to become trapped by their negativity, either. Try talking to your friend about how you feel when they are negative about your weight loss goals. Becoming a supportive friend yourself may help them want to make positive changes in their life. But if that isn’t the case, that is fine too. Try managing how often you spend time with that friend, and spend equal or greater amounts of time with other more positive influences.

If you don’t know where to turn for that positive influence, reach out to your medical weight loss doctor. Joining a weight loss support group might be the strategy you are looking for to stay positive despite negative surroundings.

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