Family support is very vital if we decide to make drastic changes in our dietary habits. Heck, it could be the most important factor in your ability to stay the course in your weight loss journey; that is, after making the decision to rejig how you consume food. Why do you have to change what you eat? Even a charlatan knows that what is standing between us and a healthy lifestyle is the food we eat. Especially the bad food we devour in the guise of enjoying the full life.
A few years ago, a close friend was advised by the doctor to stay off meats. I mean he was gaining weight faster than a balloon being filled with air. An exaggeration of course, but you get my point. He refused. A few years later, he had to go back to the hospital. A large cancerous growth was sprouting behind one of his ears. The round bulb was a perfect sphere in shape. Really nice to look at but rather frightening in its ramifications for my friends health. It all came down to the same thing. Quit eating some of the things you are used to, especially meat, or else…. He had to go under the knife to remove the growth. He doesn’t eat much meat now. I was surprised he could do it. The dude loved his meat. For him, family support came from his partner. She made sure he complied with the doctor’s advice this time around.
Have you ever tried to quietly make some important decisions in your life, only to find out lack of family support made you to quietly drop them? It happens to the best of us too. That why it is important to talk about the things you want to do with family and friends. As a matter of fact, research shows that dieters are more likely to change their ways if they feel a strong current of family support from those around. There is nothing as depressing as having loved ones sabotage your best efforts.
To get 100% family support as you embark on your journey to changing your diet (and invariably bringing down your weight), follow this easy tips.
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Family Support Comes Easy if You are Open
That’s right. Let the whole world know what you are doing. Any opportunity you have, tell your friends and family about your decision to change your dietary habit. One effect of this is, it would stop family members from persistently pushing tempting foods at you. You know how family can get right?
I always doff my heart for this family friend. We call her Kim Kardashian because her figure is near perfect. With board-flat tummy and all. But she thinks she’s not slim enough. Any opportunity she gets, she’d loudly informed those around her not to pester her with just any food. We all get the message now. She eats when and what she wants. At her own time too.
Make Friends with People on the Same Path
How many times have you looked at a dedicated dieting co-worker or neighbour and wished you were like them. I know the feeling. In my hey days, so many people were quietly envious about my physique. But the quiet ones never achieved anything. It was the up-front ones who decided to approach me and buddy up that also got the benefits of my experience. Becoming friends or friendly with somebody who is also trying to change their dietary habit would seriously impact on yours too. That is why doing exercises with other people is more fun. Or to put it another way, it is easier to quit if your are doing it alone.
So get close to somebody with the same mindset. It could be a family member or just a colleague at work. Or the neighbor you only said hi to occasionally. Having a partner breeds healthy competition in both of you. And having partners makes it even more fun.
Family Support for the Introvert
If you can’t be like my Kim kardashian and be loud about your dietary habit, don’t think there is no hope for you as far as family support goes.
I know a lot of people who would never open up about anything. So you are like that and can’t seem to stand up to all those family members badgering you to eat and eat? You know the type right? They would keep on pushing or bringing delicious food your way. God have mercy on your soul if you don’t eat what they offered you. To deal with this issue, you need to be subtle how you change your diet. Adjust your dietary habit bit by bit. Just small and less noticeable changes; so that you can get away with it without having to explain anything to anybody. It would help you as try to lose weight without attracting unnecessary attention from nosy family members.
Of course, in a case like this, family support is turned upside down. You use your family to practice the dark art of dietary subtlety. And before you know it, everybody just accepts it as natural that you consume less food than others.
I am just thinking there is something I missed that is equally important in getting family support. Just can’t get that niggling feeling out of my mind. Anyway, if you have something to add, there must be, please don’t hesitate to do so in the comments section.
