Going on a diet: how important is the environment

When we go on a diet, one of the most important parameters to understand if we will be able to lose weight is our environment. What, however, is extraordinarily underestimated. Those who want to lose weight are told that it is all a matter of will (I myself am convinced), but this will is not an absolute parameter. The successes and failures of our battle against extra pounds also depend on the environment factor. The environmental factor obviously means everything that our society does, not just the places we live: people too, and not just home or office, are sociologically environmental factors when they interact with us.
Yes, but what does diet have to do with it? Well, some time ago a study indicated how important it was both the support of the partner for those who want to lose weight, and “thin friends”. American star Rosie O ‘Donnell, a famous stand-up comedian, has recently lost a huge amount of weight, going from obese to thin thanks to bariatric surgery. However, she stated that this “new self” created problems in her relationship with her partner. An overweight person, if she surrounds herself with thin people with healthy lifestyles, she will tend to mimic those lifestyles and have those people as a role model . Obviously, a model close and similar to us, but thin and with a correct diet, works a thousand times more than the anorexic models and a certain thin schizophrenic world which is absolutely a negative comparison. In short, the friend works more than the media freak, and better.

Even more, it works to have the support of a partner or family. People who tell you “but nooooo, come on, I prefer you like this” or a man or woman who fears that from thinning you will become more attractive, obviously affect your diet. The same are the friends who do everything except being supportive . It often happened to me with the partner on duty or with a friend who minimized: “but if you are thin!”. My husband, for example, knows that when I eat I don’t want to hear about food if I’m on a diet, and that he must not insist on offering me the sin of gluttony. So, even before thinking about losing weight, let’s think and try to be supported by friends, colleagues, partners and family.They must understand first that we want to change, and if they want and need it, participate in the change: there are many couples who go on a diet together, for example.
On Wikihow, a nice model of excellent excuses to avoid depressing your social life when you are on diet : what to do when we are invited to dinner out or with friends? The ideal is to declare that you are trying to eat differently and not worry too much about what others will eat (or think) about us . I’ve tried it, and it works. If we are in a restaurant I really don’t care if the people next to me eat pizza or cake and I eat salad. Sometimes I also eat pizza or cake, but at that moment I chose not to. That’s all.