Using The Buddy System For Effective Weight Loss
By Kathryn
The desire to lose weight and look good in smaller sizes is hardly a solitary phenomenon. Indeed, countless men and women each year yearn to be ten, twenty, even fifty or more pounds lighter. It is this collective desire that keeps the diet industry so profitable, with nearly millions of dollars spent annually on supplements, diet books, gym memberships, and specialized food for burning fat. Thousands of people, tens of thousands, face the new year with the same resolutions: take off the pounds and keep them off.

So why is it, when we diet, we sometimes feel so alone? What is it about trying to lose weight that makes us feel like outsiders in a sea of people who seem content with their lives? Is it because we feel uncomfortable in restaurants, as if we're forced to limit our option to avoid fatty fried foods and rich cream sauces? Is it because we're ashamed to admit that we need to lose weight, and hence risk humiliation?

There is certainly no reason to feel alone during a process in which so many people engage themselves. This is why companies like Weight Watchers have thrived over the decades, not so much because people find the plans effective, but because the sense of community is there to make the process of losing weight less clinical and less isolated. When you attend a meeting of men and women who want to lose weight, you gain a sense of camaraderie that establishes a better comfort level for achieving your dieting goals. Such meetings offer support to men and women so they don't have to feel alone.

What do you do, though, if such places don't exist where you live? What do you do if your schedule is so demanding that by the time you are free to meet, the meetings are over? Truly, it can be inconvenient for a dieter to join a support group that meets during the day when you are working, more so if the meetings are too far away for even driving.

This doesn't mean you should count out the possibility of continuing a diet alone. Friends and family will always lend support when you need it, but to see a diet to success sometimes it takes more than