Blogspotter: Blog away those excess pounds
Walking an hour a day and drinking water promotes weight loss, two new medical studies conclude. But past those bulletins from the Mastering the Obvious Institute lies an intriguing report suggesting online support groups can help keep those pounds off.
Rena Wing, a Brown University professor heavily focused on weight-control issues, set up 18-month maintenance programs for 314 adults who’d dropped at least 10 percent of their total weight over the preceding two years.
Some participants met in person every week, others held online sessions and some never met at all. Members of the first two groups also hopped on the scale daily and received diet and fitness coaching.
In the study, recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the people who met weekly did a much better job of maintaining healthy weights.
True, the in-person meetings led to somewhat better results than the virtual versions. About 45 percent of the face-to-face group packed on at least 5 pounds during the study period, compared with nearly 55 percent of the online chatters. However, 72 percent of the no-meeting folks gained five pounds or more.
And let’s face it: Most of us who need a mirror to see our toes won’t schlep to weight-loss meetings. But we could find a few minutes each week to participate in an online group, right?
Many overweight people also feel more comfortable discussing sensitive body issues in a forum where they’re not face-to-face with other participants.
That can be true even for us macho dudes. Way back in the 20th century, I twice lost significant poundage through Weight Watchers. But the meetings just didn’t cut it for me (this was before WW added an online option). They were run by women, for women — and male members were treated as curiosities.
If you’re a man who went through the program in those days, repeat after me the two statements you most often heard from friendly, well-meaning women at those meetings: Losing weight is so much easier for guys, and you get to eat so much more bread!
It’s no wonder, then, that a group of dieting men banded together a year ago to blog about their quest for the holy grail of weight loss as The Knights of the Round Bottoms.
Members of the order, inspired by the Monty Python comedy troupe, go by names such as Lord Chubalot, Sir Semisolid, Sir Squishy and, uh, Sir Man Boobs. They enlisted a fit and trim Exercise Oracle to help them stay on track. (Chivalrous to the end, the knights admitted a few ladies to their ranks as well.)
Some of the member blogs predate the group’s formation. But in the 12 months since the Knights first raised their swords as one, several have lost big. Chubalot, for instance, is down more than 15 pounds (for a total of about 30 since his initial blog post in January 2005) and hovering around his goal weight of 178 pounds.
Every crusade suffers setbacks, however, and this one’s no different: Sir Howling Belly and Sir Pork in Boots are listed on the roster as “absent knights, lost on their quest.”
But even though success isn’t universal, it might be worth the effort to seek online weight-loss support. As the group’s oracle put it, “The more alone and out of control and helpless you feel, the more you have in common with millions of other people. … Establish relationships with them and help each other.”
Round-bottom line: These diet-blog groups and other virtual communities help weight losers and maintainers by keeping them accountable, focused and in regular contact with a support network.
As you dig into the Halloween candy this week, keep the option in mind.