Resources – Online Support Forums

I promised a blog post a while ago about the resources that I use to help keep me motivated and on track.  I find that I spend a great deal of time (maybe too much) online reading and researching weight loss, weight maintenance, healthy eating and fitness.  I belong to a number of online forums, read a number of blogs, watch TV shows about weigh loss and listen to a bunch of podcasts. 

I find it all very motivating for a number of reasons.  I learn so much.  There are always new viewpoints to consider, new information to assimilate and ideas to try.  I remember where I’ve been I hear others talk about their struggles and I am inspired to keep moving forward when I hear about the success of others.

The first internet resource I found were online support forums. I’ve participated in a few online support forums.  I was doing a low-carb diet when I started and so when I searched for information on low-carb diets online, I found Active Low-Carber Forums and Low Carb Friends first. I started posting in the sections for people with more than 100 pounds to lose and started making friends with others in the same situation I was in. It was inspiring to see those that had done it, had lost 100 lbs already. I learned a lot of practical ideas about how to make it easier to eat a low-carb diet everyday. I started to make connections, even friendships, with others on the forums. We supported each other, commiserated with each other, and helped each other, sharing ideas and experiences.

I was surprised to realize later just how important those online support forums were in my weight loss journey (and my ability to keep the weight off after). I couldn’t just disappear, I had to show up everyday and say hi at least. If I didn’t show, people asked where I was. And if I’d had a bad day and overate or eaten off plan, I couldn’t lie and say everything was okay, so I couldn’t ignore the problem. By not being able to ignore returning bad food habits, I was forced to deal with it and either get back on plan or admit I couldn’t. I’d never had that kind of accountabilty in weight loss before. I truly believe it got me back on plan many times that I might otherwise have slipped back into old patterns for months or years and eventually regained all my lost weight.

And, I’ve truly I met some of the best people in the world. I’ve met many of my online friends in real life now, and we have friendships that have surpassed our common interest in weight loss. As a matter of fact, I had a tableful of forum friends at my wedding two years ago.

I’d encourage anyone interested to check out an online forum. There are many of them, supporting any kind of diet or no particular diet at all, offering generic diet & fitness support. They aren’t the only way to get online support obviously, but they are an important resource for me.