Find Skinny Friends

Whether you want to believe it or not your circle of friends have a lot of influence over you. Think about who you hang out with the most. Chances are they are very similar to you in age, values, financial status, education... Many times our friends are really just a reflection of ourselves.

Can this phenomenon include your health as well? A study in the New England Journal of Medicine is claiming this is so. In fact it looks like obesity is almost contagious and can spread like a virus. It is no wonder that we are facing an obesity epidemic. Obesity can pass from one person to the next.

This study followed a very large social network of people. They observed relationships between friends, family members, and neighbors. They followed obesity trends between different social networks. For example if one person gained weight would it have an impact on any of their networks. What the researchers found was that friends were the most influential. When one person would gain weight, they would see a common trend. The friends of that person would start to gain weight. Even when friends didn't live in close proximity to each other they would still witness this occurrence. They concluded that when a friend becomes obese it increases your chance of becoming obese by 57%. Whether your friend live down the street or across the country it will still have the same effect on you. If it is a very close friend that is obese you increase your chance to 71%.

This study just reinforces how influenced we are by our friends. The study found some similar effects with family members, but nothing like the obesity link between friends. This really isn't too surprising though. When I think about some of my clients I see this exact thing. I have had many clients come to me saying they needed to lose weight for a school reunion or other social gathering of friends, but I have not seen many who say they need to lose weight for Thanksgiving or other holiday when they get together with their family. I'm sure there are some out there who want to but I just don't see it as much.

The bottom line is this though. You have the power to help fight obesity and help your friends get in shape. If we know friends are the most influential it should work both ways. If you have a friend lose 20lbs or you lose weight, you will probably start to see your friends follow you. If obesity is contagious then maybe being fit and healthy can be too. There is only one way to find out. If you need to lose a few pounds try and get that weight off. Then see if some of your friends start to follow along. You can help America get back into shape.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

Drink Water, Lose Weight

I don't think I need to tell you how important water is. Water is the most abundant substance found in your body. You can only survive a few days without water, while you can go almost a month without food. It is quite simply one of the most important things you need to consider in your nutrition program.

Can drinking water though help you lose weight? This is something that is always stated, but actually has not been studied very much. There are a few newer studies that wanted to find out if water could help with weight lose.

The main research findings out there are showing how important it is to drink water before your meals, not just throughout the day. One study found that middle-aged and older people, consumed 75-90 calories less per meal, when they drank 2 cups of water before a meal. I know these aren't huge numbers but still that 1575-1890 less calories per week or an extra 2-3lbs of weight loss each month.

And an newer study found very similar results. This study compared two groups. One drank 2 cups of water before meals while the other group didn't. Over a 12 week span the water drinkers lost 4 more pounds than the non water drinkers.

I know you might not be impressed with losing an extra 4lbs over 12 weeks but in actuality both groups lost weight. The water drinkers just lost 15lbs compared to 11lbs. 15lbs in 12 weeks is a pretty substantial amount. And even better is the fact that these studies did not involve exercise. These number could have been even better with the incorporation of strength and cardio training.

Now we have research to back up what many of us have probably assumed for awhile. Water is very important for weight loss. It is not just important to drink it though. Drink 2 cups of water before every meal to see even fast weight lose. Try replacing your calorie containing beverage with a glass of water.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training
My Workout Creator