by Michelle Wilkinson

Created on: February 07, 2010

It is easier to lose weight when you live on your own because you’re the only person you have to think about. You, alone, are in control of what you eat, so that you don’t have to worry about telling your partner or your parents to stop giving you as much food because you’re on a diet. You can just get on with it, without having the weight of expectation on you; you don’t need to tell anyone of your plans and so if you slip up occasionally you only have yourself to answer to, which is bad enough, anyway.

Some people need a strong support network in order to lose weight because they don’t have enough faith in themselves to succeed. Indeed, it can be useful to have your family by your side when you’re trying to bring about substantial changes to your life, but in the end you have to motivate yourself to lose weight. Even with all the support in the world it is you who has to find the determination to stick to your weight-loss plan in the long run.

You may think that you’ll be more motivated if you tell people you’re on a diet, but this isn’t necessarily the case and if you fail you can end up feeling as if you have let other people down and that you’re basically useless. When you live on your own you don’t have to contend with these issues. You still have to find the motivation, but you don’t have to explain your actions to anyone else.

Living alone means you only have to cook for yourself, as you don’t have any children to cook for, which means you won’t end up nibbling on their leftovers, while if you’re single you don’t have to worry about catering for your partner’s tastes. You can eat what you want, when you want it and you can count calories without having someone standing behind you, watching your every move.

When you live on your own you also have more time to exercise, as you can spend as much time in the gym as you like, since you have no one to rush home for. Obviously, the more hours you spend working out the sooner you’ll notice a difference when you step on the scales.

There may be some disadvantages of living alone, but when you’re trying to lose weight it can be much easier to succeed than if you live with relatives or housemates who are constantly eating junk food in front of you and making the whole weight-loss process more difficult.

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