Photo by HealthGauge
In the journey to a healthier lifestyle, it helps to have friends along for the ride. Also, avoid mini-marts. Here are five reasons why it’s great to make MyFitnessPal friends:
- Goals. When you meet others who have similar health and fitness goals, there is an unspoken, shared understanding of the difficulties associated with that. As you each progress you can keep each other on-track and compare notes. Stress or success, it feels good to know others are in the same boat as you.
- Encouragement. It feels good to get encouragement, especially from folks who know what you’re going through. It resonates on a deep level and can really compel you to action if you’re feeling stuck. Giving encouragement also reaffirms your own commitment to health. If your resolve is weakening you can share and get strength from advice, recipes, or stories from your fellow pals.
- Inspiration. Seeing the ups, down, and eventual successes of another person can stoke your own internal fires and spur you to action. Sometimes it might just be a feeling of “if they can do it, so can I,” or perhaps there’s a bit of friendly competition. Tracking the progress of others in your circle also focused on improving their health, and seeing them hit their fitness milestones, can really inspire a fire.
- Challenges. When you have a solid group of health pals you can challenge each other to level up the hard work. By participating in challenges with co-workers, family members, and friends, you’ll help each other stay focused and energize your health programs. You’ll keep each other accountable and have someone who is a little more invested to give you an added boost of support. You’ll also have someone to help plan a pancake blowout when you’re done.
- Engagement. It can be difficult to stay connected to your health goals as you travel through your everyday life. Work, kids, school, video games… there are many things that distract and eat up time, and most of them are more fun with a soda. So when you’re engaged with a community of like-minded people, you can all remind each other of what you’re trying to attain. Sometimes it’s just helpful to see what others have been doing, and hear tips and tricks they have for staying engaged and focused.
Ok, so you’re sold on making new fitness pals. But you ask, “How exactly do I connect with friends old and new, or get my real-world friends into the game?” It’s easy. Especially compared to waking up before the kids do so you can work out.
To invite your current friends who aren’t yet members of MyFitnessPal, check out this page, or if you want to invite a current member to be your fitness pal, follow these instructions.
We’re called MyFitnessPAL. So go and make some more pals!
Sincerely,
The MyFitnessPal Team
