Going to the gym? Well, don’t forget to bring your friends. Exercising with a friend or family improves weight loss claims a new study.
Professor Shiriki Kumanyika and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, conducted the two-year trial where it included 344 men and women.
The volunteers’ goal was to achieve and maintain a 5 per cent to 10 per cent weight loss. The volunteers were educated about healthy diet and physical activity, given pedometers and enrolled in exercise sessions, reports The Telegraph.
A total of 63 people enrolled in the program alone and 281 enrolled with a friend or family member.
The groups were split into three sections, those who trained alone, those who had a partner that received little coaching and those who were with a friend who also had a high level of coaching.
Their progress was then measured at intervals of six, 12, 18 and 24 months, according to the research, published in the latest issue of Archives of Internal Medicine journal.
After analyzes, researchers found that the participants with a partner in the high support group lost the most weight at all the measurement periods.
Kumanyika said: “We evaluated family and friend social support as a specific cultural adaptation strategy.
“Beneficial effects on weight loss were linked to actual rather than assigned partner participation and to partner success in losing weight.
“Further studies may elucidate ways to facilitate effective family or friend participation and to improve absolute weight losses.”