Recipe for Success: Support

I left our discussion of support for last because I feel that, in a way, a system of support is the most important ingredient to successful weight loss and long term weight management.  After all the commitments and changes that you make, you’re still only one person.  By ourselves it’s much easier to justify choices that move you away from your success.  But when you build into your life a network of people and resources that can help in the times you need them (and maybe not always even when you want them), then you’re setting yourself up for long term success.

Be purposeful about how you build your support system, and try to cover yourself in different areas of your life.  Most of us have a supportive friend or family members, but our friends and family aren’t with us all day long every day.

Support in my own life aside from friends and family:

• I have relationships with my exercise class teachers so that, if I were to miss a regular class for a couple weeks, I know I would have an email from them asking where I was.
• I have a counselor whom I used to visit frequently during my weight loss, but I continue to see him two or three times a year now that I’m working on maintaining my weight.
• I have a relationship with a coworker who loves to walk at lunch when it’s sunny.
• I follow a lot of other foodie and weight loss blogs to help keep myself focused daily.

As you can see, I can’t make it through a normal day without encountering at least one person in my support network.  Some people are stronger levels of support than others—my coworker isn’t about to come over to my cubicle and yell at me to go walk, but my counselor is a great kick in the butt if I haven’t been making great choices leading up to one of my appointments.  A good support system will have multiple points of contact as well as multiple levels of support.

What kind of support system do you have?  What are the people who support you like?  Do you feel well covered?  Any holes that might need fortified?