Professional and Personal Health with Social Media

Social media domains offer a new strategy for many people battling weight-related issues and desiring to lose weight. As obesity rates continue to rise, it is imperative for people to choose methods for change that fit their lifestyle.

Support and accountability through social media

Many people feel that they are supported and accountable through social media sites, which can be extremely advantageous. Working with many successful clients and just as many unsuccessful clients has proven that a positive support system and an accountability program are two vital components of any successful weight loss endeavor. Social media certainly provides an outlet for these. Not too long ago, there were far fewer options for staying in touch and providing support to a person who needed more than weekly or twice weekly contact.

Goal setting

There are numerous benefits to taking your weight loss efforts to the social media platform. First, studies show that making your goals public helps you to continue to remain accountable to them; one common fear that people have is that they don’t understand what their end result will be. Another fear is that they will succeed (or worse, they will fail).  Making these goals public is a great way for many people to maintain consistency and continue performing necessary actions when they may not feel like doing so, or when progress slows down.  Knowing that others are watching may help to fuel successful habits.

An educational opportunity

In addition to simply taking your goals to social media, you have a great opportunity to connect with fitness, medical, and weight loss professionals via their professional pages on Facebook or following their tweets on Twitter. Many professionals enjoy engaging with people and answering questions, providing educational content, and suggesting options for meals, workouts, and mental training. Having 24/7 access to so much information can be overwhelming, but it also can be an incredible tool. This can afford many people the ability to create a “novice” plan and help them to navigate the confusing world of marketing and misinformation.

In my practice, I employ Twitter and Facebook as well as an educational blog series. My twitter feed allows me to connect with quick, “on the go” tidbits of information and provides thought-provoking questions. The Facebook platform is my most widely used platform. I have a business page that provides inspirational messages many times a day and educational content as well as programming and marketing information to inform customers about my company specialties, which ensures “fans” that they are receiving real and credible information to help them achieve their goals. Facebook also allows me to stay connected to clients through a private coaching page. On that page, I provide coaching and accountability questions for members and it helps to create a positive, supportive, and engaging environment for people to feel comfortable and remain connected. It allows people to get timely information without having to wait.

Connecting your apps and media

An added benefit of many social media sites is the ability to connect with other weight loss and health applications. Calorie counting and exercise sites can connect directly to your social media outlets, which can create a wider and more detailed network for you to garner even more support and information.

There are clients that use applications to track food, meditation, water intake, count steps, etc. Tremendous success stories come from people who are accountable to the tool (application) and make it public for guidance and support (social media).

We have seen people accomplish incredible goals and outcomes much more quickly than expected because they use more of the correct tools.  Clients have achieved a 30 lb weight loss in 90 days using an app to help them drink more water, a website to schedule their workouts, and an application to track their food intake.

One client, who has lost more than 100 pounds through training with us and following our dietary advice along with tracking it in an app that can be checked, uses a pedometer (synced to our team page) to track steps and help to create challenges. That client also uses the social media sites to garner more support and engage in proper coaching.

Overall, social media can provide a comfortable outlet for people to connect and discuss common goals, get recipes and meal ideas from Pinterest, garner self-congratulations for workouts performed, and create a support network to maintain accountability to those goals.

Eliminating limiting factors

Additionally, social media eliminates the time and distance factors that many individuals face; it also eliminates many cost issues, enabling people to get basic guidance for low or no cost whatsoever. Many companies also offer discounts and incentives to people who are connected to their social media outlets, which enables the member to gain more complete, detailed information to reach weight loss goals.

Social media is, in no way, a replacement for complete programming administered by a qualified professional; however, in this day and age of social media, it certainly makes sense that it should and would be a part of your total support and education system.

Conclusion 

In summary, there are numerous benefits to creating goals, making them public, and creating a positive support system to help you with accountability, guidance, and education.

You will get to your goals much quicker using these tools.

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