11 May How to Build a Support System for Your Healthy Lifestyle

Many things in life are made better when you can enjoy them with other people. A healthy lifestyle is no exception! When there are people in your life who support your healthy choices and maybe even join you in exploring healthy ways of living, you are bound to have a more positive experience – which is helpful when it comes to sticking with it. 

Here are our tips for how you can build a support system for your healthy lifestyle.

Why Support Matters

Knowing you have people around you who support your efforts to be healthy does more than make you feel good. When you build a support system for yourself, you’ll feel more energized and motivated to pursue healthier lifestyle choices for yourself. Your supporters will share your happiness and accomplishments with you, which can inspire you to keep moving toward the intentions you have for yourself. 

Studies have shown that surrounding yourself with a support system can significantly impact your efforts to live healthily. In one study, individuals who weren’t frequently connecting socially didn’t eat a large variety of fruits and vegetables. In another, participants were found to gravitate toward the exercise behaviors of those around them. 

Share Your Healthy Lifestyle With Family and Friends

Your friends and family are a great place to start when you want to build a support system for your healthy lifestyle. Even if they aren’t jumping on board to try mindful eating with you or joining you for a yoga or fitness class, the important thing is that they understand what you’re doing and encourage you to succeed. 

Here are a few ways you can share your healthy lifestyle with friends and family and ask for their support:

• Tell them what you’re doing and why it’s important to you. 
• Ask for support and explain how it will help you.
• Invite them to cook and prepare meals with you.
• Suggest they join you for a new workout or exercise you love.
• Share your triumphs with them! Seeing how happy you are making healthier choices may even inspire them to start themselves.

Build a Support System With Your Fitness Community

If you want to build a support system, members of your fitness community can be some of the most important relationships you’ll create. 

You share a unique camaraderie with the people who attend the same classes or workouts that you do, who frequent the same facilities, and who are working toward similar goals for a healthy lifestyle. They’re going through similar struggles, overcoming comparable hurdles, and want to be healthier. Who better to surround yourself with?

That’s why at VIBE, it’s important to us that we’re creating more than a yoga, health, and fitness studio–we’re cultivating a community where everyone is welcome and embraced. Knowing that you’re part of a place where everyone is seeking healthier lifestyles, whether physically, emotionally, or nutritionally, can provide you with the support you want and need to stay motivated.

Check In With Professionals

Healthcare professionals can provide you with valuable tools, resources, and support for your healthy lifestyle choices. Mental health professionals can help you explore the mental and emotional aspects of eating and exercise. This can give you a better understanding of how your body works and why your choices are essential to your health. 

Telling your primary care provider about your healthy lifestyle goals can also be a positive step to take when you’re building a support system. Your doctor can work with you to monitor the health benefits of your choices and track indicators that confirm your progress, such as your blood pressure and weight. Plus, keeping a doctor in the loop on your lifestyle choices will help ensure you are making healthy decisions for yourself.

Building a support system for your healthy lifestyle is one of the best ways you can keep yourself motivated, encouraged, and inspired! Come and meet new health-focused friends (bring a few of your own!) to our Saturdays in the Park series this summer. Every Saturday, June 5 – September 25, we’ll host VIBE HIIT and Yoga classes at Marx Park in Brookfield. Classes are free for VIBE members and $10 for non-members. Sign up today!