Building a Community for Fat Loss
Call it your tribe, your group, your fam, or a close circle. In order for us to be the most successful with our goals, whether it be for fat loss, muscle gain, improving heart health, or just feeling good, it’s important that we have a supportive network of people we can count on when the inevitable happens where we start to feel unmotivated and want to give up.
Some may identify as true lone wolves who don’t require extrinsic motivation, but for most of us, it really helps to have a formed group of friends, family members, or even colleagues we can look to in times of hardship.
And that’s what we're going to be covering today.
The importance of having a community
The benefits of community for fat loss
And the benefits of community for overall long term health.
THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY
When you’re embarking on a health journey, there’s several different things you need to dial in to ensure you have the best chance of success.
Diet
Sleep
Exercise
And Daily movement
And while honing in on these alone will take you far, there is one more piece to the puzzle that unfortunately, many people often overlook.
And that is having a support group.
The reason why I love the idea of having a network of like minded individuals for health goals is because there’s a high chance that at some point along your journey, you’re gonna want to throw in the towel and call it quits.
Whether it be from a long plateau, a tragic event, or succumbing to cravings, having others to lift you up and remind you of why you're doing what you're doing in the first place can be a massive game changer.
Millions of people every year start January off with the resolution to lose weight. They buy a gym membership and are consistent for maybe a month or two, then they drop out.
The reason being could be for various reasons such as feeling intimidated, fear of being judged by others, inconsistent scheduling, or perhaps due to the slow progress, they feel like it’s not even worth it.
The person who starts their health journey with a close group that knows what their intentions are versus the person who goes in alone are going to see very different outcomes.
The “lone wolf” is far more likely to run into lulls, plateaus, and bouts of amotivation.
While the person with the established community is far more likely to keep progressing, get high off their own success, and win in the long term.
But real quick, I do want to pay homage to the outliers who can go in alone. There are plenty of individuals that do go into their health journey without a support network. They don’t tell anyone about their goals. They simply keep to themselves and get shit done. They don’t need anything else but the burning passion inside to guide them.
These are usually people who have a deep rooted reason for why they want to change. Perhaps they were diagnosed with a medical condition that can be reversed with a healthy lifestyle. Maybe it’s because they let their own health slip away and are tired of feeling like a shadow of their former self. It could also be that they want to improve their health for a selfless cause, maybe for a love interest or being strong for a future child or grandchild.
There are plenty of examples of true lone wolves out there, but it’s important to remember that however cool it may seem to be a badass loner who doesn’t need anyone else to help them, humans fundamentally are social creatures who need to be around one another.
We thrive off supporting each other.
Society, modern agriculture, development in technology and medicine wouldn’t be where they are today without the first human tribes.
When hardship arises, we come together to find new ways to persevere. From hunting and gathering to survive the harsh winters all the way to communities coming together to fight for a cause they believe in.
In the grand scheme of things, we humans work best and thrive when we have a network of individuals with varying strengths and skills that we can depend on.
THE PROBLEM WE’VE CREATED
Although our modern society being the product of humans sticking together for thousands of years is a good thing for the advancement of food production, agriculture, science, and medicine, these benefits do come at a cost.
For the first time in human history, we have developed countries that no longer have to task with solving food scarcity. And while there are still areas around the world where malnutrition is prevalent, it’s nowhere near the scale as it used to be.
For the most part, a lack of calories isn’t the issue.
Instead, we’ve created a new unique problem.
We are now both overfed and undernourished at the same time.
Millions around the globe are considered overweight if not obese while also being deficient in vital nutrients for optimal health.
And the reason for this is not entirely, but largely due to our processed food consumption.
Food processing started off as a way to safely store food for longer periods and to ship food overseas in order to provide sustenance during times of crisis. And while that is still the main purpose, food companies have figured out ways to mass produce food products that provide calories and flavor, but lack any solid nutritional value.
This has created an unprecedented environment where we’re surrounded by hyper palatable foods that encourage us to overeat.
Foods that hijack any mechanisms of fullness, leading us to almost never feel satisfied. Foods that give us comfort when we’re dealing with stress. And foods that we consume unconsciously.
I dare you to walk for 15 minutes outside without seeing an ad for some processed food or drink. It’s almost impossible, especially if you live near a city or commercial area where billboards are already abundant.
This has made weight loss even more difficult than it needs to be.
If we lived in an isolated environment devoid of constant tasty reminders, our modern weight epidemic would be nowhere the scale it is today.
But we don’t live in a bubble, we live in the society we have created which is made up of constant stimulation.
This is why it’s crucial to create a game plan to navigate the mess we’ve made.
And that is why I’m going to tell you how you can set yourself up for success for weight loss by creating a community of support..
THE BENEFITS OF COMMUNITY FOR FAT LOSS
Let's get straight into it.
When you are serious about starting your weight loss journey, communicate your goals to your family, friends, and colleagues. Tell them about what you wish to achieve and what they can do to support you.
If you work in an office setting where you know you may be offered sweets or baked goods such as donuts, muffins, and cake, tell your co-workers not to offer you any. This will definitely take some discipline on your end as it's unrealistic to expect others to forgo their favorite treats just for your sake.
Tell your coworkers your plans and what you struggle with. Do you struggle with binge eating? Do you struggle with sweet cravings when you get stressed? Maybe you often find yourself mindlessly grabbing snacks from the break room whenever you pass by.
Identify what your struggles are and give your colleagues permission to enforce your goals. Have them remind you of what you want to achieve when you feel like slipping or giving up.
The same thing goes for your friends, tell them your goals, explain to them what you struggle with and tell them you need their help to keep you accountable.
Don’t have them offer you takeout. Instead of doing activities centered around food, go out for a hike, take part in an event, volunteer, or learn a new skill together. There’s plenty of activities you can do without food being the center point.
And fortunately for you, this process is also going to reveal who your true friends are.
True friends will support you and hold you accountable. You may possibly receive some backlash which if that does happen, you’ll know who you should keep out of your inner circle.
Now for family, this may tend to be a harder situation as these people share the same roof as you.
But for the most part, it’s a similar setup to your friends and colleagues. Tell them about your goals and what you struggle with. If there’s a food you can’t control yourself around, simply don’t have it in the house.
Now that doesn’t mean you can’t have it.
It just means it cannot be in the house. If you truly have to have it, go to the store and buy a single serving and let that be it. Never tell yourself you cannot have something, it’s a losing battle.
Taking a step back, tell your family about what foods are a trigger and figure out ways to navigate the problem together.
If you're like me, then cereal is one of the most binge-y foods out there. Instead of having a big colorful box that says “eat me” written all over it just laying around, buy a couple single serving cereal containers that your family can enjoy. Most grocery stores sell small wrapped bowls that contain a couple servings of cereal each.
And even if you do end up having one, it’s better to have 2-3 servings rather than half the box at once.
Your family should be the most supportive group of people to help keep you pointed in the right direction. There's a good chance that you may have a family member that doesn't agree with possibly limiting what foods can be in the house. If that’s the case, then try and communicate with them to work on at least keeping out of your sight within realistic limits.
Remember that the food item in question doesn't control you and any power it holds stems from your choice to even give it power. Any pleasure you get from it is instantaneous.
So an important question to ask yourself is this
What's more important to me? Short term pleasure or long term results?
COMMUNITY FOR LONG TERM HEALTH.
Humans are creatures of habit. The habits we form come from the environment we find ourselves in.
And fortunately for us, we now live in a time where to some extent, we have a say in what makes up our surroundings.
We have the ability to surround ourselves with people who will not only support us in whatever goal we set, but people who will push us further to achieve what we thought wasn't possible.
And this doesn't just apply to weight loss, but to any pursuit.
Maybe you're trying to get stronger, learn a new skill, start a business, or just trying to learn from others more experienced than you. Maybe you yourself want to be a better mentor to those working under you or maybe you want the skillset to become a better parent.
Regardless of what the goal is, allowing yourself to be positively influenced by others and to have a support system is a surefire way to guarantee that you will experience less chance of depression, a better outlook on life, reduced risk of disease, and have an easier time losing weight and building muscle.
Hope this helped you out!
Talk soon
-Randy
