Fast Diet Program

The days of attending meetings as the sole option for weight-loss support appear to be dwindling. Now, people struggling to lose pounds can open their Internet browser to find online communities such as Bodybuilding.com and SparkPeople.com. Popular apps and devices, like Fitbit and MyFitnessPal, have social components as well.

Using social networking to find new workout routines, meal plans and encouraging words seems to be popular, but its effectiveness can be called into question. Are these communities a main factor in helping people manage their weight, or are they just trendy?

Fitness bloggers across the Web swear by their communities, which hold users accountable.

“If I write about how I’m having a hard time and don’t feel like working out, I’ll get messages that are so motivating, like, ‘Don’t give up,’” said Jodi Weinberger, who blogs about health and fitness atJodi, Fat or Not. “All the time it happens that I worked out after someone wrote an encouraging message. The more you put it out there, the more people will cheer you on over the Internet.”

Weinberger added that posting sweaty selfies after the gym also pushes her harder.

“For me bragging after exercising is also motivation,” she said.

Joe Robb, the digital marketing manager at SparkPeople, said that there have been hundreds of success stories since the website launched 15 years ago, and many of these users were successful in part because of the website’s community.

“We have members who have logged in every day for years,” he said. “Based on talking to our members, we know some of them have made friends on our site and they have met up to jog or walk together. We have organic Spark teams that meet every couple weeks or months to run races or walk.”

According to a SparkPeople survey by users published in The Spark, 60 percent of successful members connected with people who encouraged them to stay disciplined. Among people who lost at least 100 pounds, 72 percent proactively connected with people who motivated them, and 71 percent read inspiring stories of other successful SparkPeople members.

Aside from SparkPeople’s survey, few studies have been able to measure how social networking affects a person’s weight loss.

“Despite the widespread use of social media, few studies have quantified the effect of social media in online weight management interventions; thus, its impact is still unknown,” according to the study “The Role of Social Media in Online Weight Management: Systematic Review.”

Government studies are examining how technologies, including social networking, can help users achieve healthy weights,Prevention magazine reported.

But there are plenty of anecdotes from people who have lost weight about the power of social networking, which connects like-minded people across the world.

“It’s motivating in that you think you’re going through this hard journey, trying to work out all the time, to eat right, and then you realize everyone is going through the same thing,” Weinberger said. “Everyone else is trying to find time to fit fitness and meal prep into their busy lives.”

By Megan Anderie

Source: http://techpageone.dell.com/business/is-social-networking-linked-to-weight-loss/#.U67otfldW8B