You’re going to hear it again, “birds of the same feather flock together!” I recently found another study that looks at the links between social networks and health. A University of Bologna study, discussed in a recent Reuters article, focuses on the overall efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy on weight loss for obese patients, and the effects on their family members. Cognitive behavioral therapy essentially teaches patients how to adopt the right eating and lifestyle habits to induce weight loss, and to maintain a healthy weight. The study found that family members of obese patients in the program did shed a few pounds in conjunction with the program-goers.

“CBT in a family member might have a ripple effect (for) other family members,”…

One reason could be that family members decided to make positive changes to help the person who was in CBT — like ridding the kitchen of sugary, fatty temptations.

In general, cognitive-behavioral therapy requires motivation, since it’s time-consuming and people have to commit to changing their outlook and behavior. And it’s not universally available…

I spent 2 weeks at the Structure House to give me the jump start I needed to start losing weight. They use similar approaches as an integral part of their program. It just reinforced how much losing weight and keeping it off (I lost 125lbs, and still kept the weight off) is all about making a lifestyle change.

This change rubs off on family members – it’s really important to stick with winners on your track to lose weight and become/stay healthy!