Tools For Weight Loss Success: Can Facebook And Twitter Make You Skinny?

Lifestyle modifications, such as weight loss, dietary changes and exercise, have been shown to effectively prevent chronic diseases and improve quality of life.  However, adherence to healthy lifestyle changes remains low.  For example, 50% of people beginning an exercise program will drop out within 6 months, and most weight loss programs show a steady decline in participation after the initial phase.

Why is it so difficult to make long lasting lifestyle changes?  The simple truth, behavior change is complex.  Not only do feelings and thoughts concerning exercise and food need to be addressed, but priorities, daily routines, and schedules need to change.  Even relationships with friends, co-workers, and family members can be affected.  However, the probability of success can be significantly improved when appropriate social support systems are formed.

Evidence for Getting Social

Social systems can reinforce behavior and lifestyle choices.  Many health and fitness articles promote the use of a partner to encourage and motive exercise participation and dietary changes.  Forming groups within an existing social network, such as family and friends, has also been suggested for greater accountability and success.  According to Facebook the average user spends more than 55 minutes on the site each day.  That’s plenty of time to update your friends on your weight loss.  Many fitness and nutrition sites, including our own Goalster, come ready with Facebook and Twitter sync which allows you to share your workout results with one click.  When your network of friends sees your commitment they are likely to be supportive and encouraging.  That little bit of praise goes a long way in reinforcing healthy behaviors.

Because social support is interpreted and implemented in a variety of ways, evaluating its effectiveness is difficult.  However, there is evidence supporting the use of social networks and social support to promote behavior change.  An interesting example is from the Look AHEAD weight loss intervention where researchers observed more success because the participants enjoyed the sociability of the program.  The participants came into the clinic more often, socialized with the staff and other program members, and took part in more physical activities compared with other programs.  As a result, the goal exercise minutes per week were not only met, they were exceeded.  According to the program outcome data, frequency of visits and amount of exercise accounted for 19% of the participants weight lost (Kushner, 2009). Interestingly, another study examining the effects of adherence to exercise and diet on weight loss and disease risk found a steady decline in adherence and program success as the number of group sessions were reduced.  The researchers concluded that additional strategies, such as support systems and motivational interviewing, should be explored for greater program adherence (Acharya, et al. 2009).

Keys to Developing a Support System

An effective support system is a combination of an appropriate social network and relevant social support.  Social networks are the venues that provide social support and have three characteristics:  structural, interactional, and functional.  Structural refers to the size and density of the network.  In other words, the number of people and the extent to which members really know each other.  Interactional includes the level of mutual sharing among members, the length of time within the relationships, the frequency of member interactions, and the ease to which members can contact each other.  Functional is how the network offers social support, supplies social contacts and resources, and maintains the identity, or focus of the social support system.

Social Support is aimed at directly supporting specific behavior changes, creating an environment conducive to changing behaviors, and developing skills and/or acquiring the knowledge necessary for changing and maintaining a specific behavior.  Social support is characterized by four behaviors:

1) emotional, such as listening, and empathizing;

2) instrumental, which refers to offering assistance in the form of labor, money or time;

3) informational, for example offering advise, making suggestions, and furnishing referrals; and

4) appraisal, the act of affirming each other and giving honest and positive feedback.

It is important to note that not all social support systems and social networks are supportive.  However, finding a suitable network and social support system may increase the successful adoption of healthy lifestyle changes.

The Internet as a Platform for Support

Because the Internet bridges distance and provides a medium for social interaction, it would seem natural for creating support systems.  However, the science of behavioral change has not caught up with technology.  Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter currently have not been examined with behavioral change interventions.  There is evidence that Internet interventions for weight loss can be as effective as face-to-face programs.  However, the subjects for these studies were predominately white, educated women.  More research is needed to determine if an Internet intervention will be effective for diverse age, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups.

Summing Up

Weight loss programs utilizing support systems have shown greater exercise and diet adherence.  Determining what constitutes a good support system is somewhat subjective.  However, there are characteristics to look for in both how the support is delivered (the social network) and the type of support required.  A good social network will have an adequate number of people with the ability to interact freely and with ease, and will be able to provide contacts and additional resources to members.  Social support can be emotional, educational, physical, and even financial.  Identifying the type of social support that will be most effective for the individual and providing those resources within in the network, will potentially improve behavioral change success.

For more on behavior change visit Karen’s blog.

Karen Moreno, MA Candidacy Kinesiology/Exercise Physiology

BA Social Science/Education