Shedding Weight Easier With a Partner

Alone but not lonely may be the mantra for new-age urbanites but when it comes to weight loss, two-gether is better than one.

A running mate may help you shed those unsightly pounds faster, says an American study on African American men and women.

The study found joining a weight loss programme with a friend or family member who is serious about losing the kilos increases the chances of you succeeding.

Researchers from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, in United States, enrolled 344 African Americans in a weight loss programme to help them lose 5-10 per cent body weight.

Of these, 63 participants went solo, 130 were assigned partners and 151 were the partners. 

Those assigned partners were divided into two groups - 65 had to attend all sessions with their companions and the other 65 some sessions with their partners.

The researchers used methods such as diet and exercise counselling, distribution of pedometers, workshops for follow-ups and cooking tutorials and gym visits on the subjects and reviewed their progress every six months.

After two years, they found that the 193 main participants lost an average of 2.4 kilogram. However, the 130 with partners initially attended the sessions more regularly than did their solo counterparts and lost more weight, too.

But the biggest loss was seen in subjects who had to attend all sessions with their partners. Those whose companions lost at least 5 per cent or more body weight offloaded more kilos.

In a report published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, the researchers wrote, "We evaluated family and friend social support as a specific cultural adaptation strategy, which was added to an ethnic-specific programme that was also adapted in other respects. Beneficial effects on weight loss were linked to actual rather than assigned partner participation and to partner success in losing weight."

The good news is that it may not be very hard to find allies for weight loss programmes. The bad news is because obesity is becoming an epidemic across the world, with over 300 million people worldwide being obese, having a body mass index, or weight to height ratio, of over 30. 

Time to scan your friends' list for partners.