ArcaMax

It’s the Best with a Buddy

"Most people put all their effort into finding the right diet or exercise program but don't put any energy into creating a support and accountability system, and too often, that's where the devil lies," says Adam Shafran, DC, an exercise physiologist and chiropractor who is the author of You Can't Lose Weight Alone: The Partner Power Weight Loss Program

Dr. Shafran may have part of the answer but in my opinion he’s leaving out the best parts.

I agree that to diet successfully it’s good to have structure. We built a lot of structure into Plan Z. We give people the coaching and education they need. Instead of telling people what to do, we also tell them why. That’s the most important. Adults need to learn why so they can apply the learning properly and with conviction. Most of our dieters diet alone so we have a major league support team too.

I am still amazed at how happy people are who get the opportunity to diet with a buddy. The buddy most often is a spouse or significant other. Sometimes the buddy doesn’t live with the other dieter and in even other cases they are living across the country from each other. I get email all the time with stories of the benefits of buddy dieting. So here are a few of those stories with hints on successful dieting with a buddy.

Pick recipes together. Maybe one buddy gets to choose three dinner recipes for the week and the other gets three and then you go out one night. Plan Z has over 800 recipes now and everything from comfort food to gourmet so it’s fun deciding what you’re going to eat. Get adventuresome. There’s no reason you can’t try new things and diet at the same time. And you don’t have to eat bland or boring. Just make a meal plan. It keeps you from buzzing through the drive thru at the last minute if you already have a meal planned.

Shop Together. I get notes from men who say they haven’t been in a grocery store in years; decades even. When they shop with their wife they are amazed. They have learned to read labels. They are astonished at how many things in a grocery store have sugar or high fructose corn syrup in them. (The answer is over 80% of the products do). I didn’t ask them to shop together. It just happens and they are finding it to be a pleasant experience and they are even trying new vegetables!

Cook Together. Sometimes one partner plays sous chef to the other one being the master chef. In my case that means my husband does some of the chopping. He’s become quite adept with a chef’s knife and has his dicing down pat. Dinner comes together faster that way.

One guy in Colorado told me that before Plan Z he never even set foot in the kitchen until dinner was done. His wife did all the cooking. He got so into cooking that his kids surprised him at Christmas with a whole new set of knives. Now they can give him culinary gifts for birthdays too.

Another way to split up duty is one dieter cooks and the other one cleans up. My husband makes me sit and watch TV while he cleans up and then he brings me dessert. Most often he rustles up a bowl of “raspberry ice cream”. He loves that stuff and I don’t mind eating it most days either. You already have that recipe.

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