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Home » Lose Weight » Enlisting a Coach Helps You Stick to Your Weight Loss Regimen, Study Shows

Trying to lose weight? Then you probably know by now that its easy to get started on a weight loss plan, whether it involves diet or exercise or both, but its devilishly hard to stick to it. You start cheating more than your plans allows for. You make excuses to skip the gym. And the next thing you know, youve actually gained weight instead of losing it.

But a recent study published in the journal Obesity indicates that one effective way to make sure you keep on keeping on, as they say, is to get a coacheither a professional one or a friend who's also trying to lose weight will do. While this isnt the study to examine the benefits of engaging in a fitness program with a buddy, it certainly helps underscore the effectiveness of this approach.

The study, according to an article in Time.coms Healthland section, was conducted out of the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center at Rhode Islands Miriam Hospital. It involved 44 participants assigned to health coaches who were either behavioral specialists or other study participants. At first, they met with their coaches on a weekly basis, but over the 24-week period, they started meeting less and less frequently in person, although they maintained weekly contact with their coaches through e-mails.

By the end of the study, which the researchers caution are preliminary, indicate that regardless of whether they had a specialist or a peer as a coach, the participants were able to cut their body weight by 9 percent after around six months of coaching.

But what makes coaching so effective? One factor is accountabilityafter all, if youre the only one who knows youre cheating, its much easier to do, but if you know someone is watching, youre more likely to exert the proper effort. If you know someone is going to look over your food journal, for example, you may be more inclined to take better records. Another factor is knowledge. Obviously, someone like a behavioral specialist will be able to help you pinpoint some of those bad habits you may not even realize youre guilty of. But a peerone who is also trying to lose weightwill probably be aware of at least some effective slim-down tactics as well.

So why not get started on your weight loss plan? And while youre at it, recruit a coach from among your friends if youd rather not fork over the dough for a professional.

(Photo by William Ward via Flickr Creative Commons)

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Enlisting a Coach Helps You Stick to Your Weight Loss Regimen, Study Shows

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Home » Lose Weight » Enlisting a Coach Helps You Stick to Your Weight Loss Regimen, Study Shows