On a recent Sunday night, Liz Paul was tired. She'd worked in the morning, spent a full day with her family and she did not feel like going out for her daily jog.
"I tweeted out, 'Well, it's 9 p.m. on Sunday and I didn't work out,' " she says, "I really shouldn't go run in the dark should I?"
The response was immediate. The network of people Paul is relying on to help in her battle to lose weight chimed in with advice. Some tweeted back, "Yes, get out and run." Others offered alternatives like a video workout. But everyone said, "Do something!"
Paul, who is 35 years old and lives in Eagan, Minn., got up and went for a three-mile run. "I wouldn't have done something if it was just me," she says, "I would have given up. I would have said 'Oh well, I'll do it tomorrow.' "
Several studies, albeit small ones, show that social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can help bolster weight loss. Researchers in London recently analyzed 12 studies involving nearly 1,900 people in the U.S., Europe, East Asia and Australia. They found those who used social networking sites lost modest but significant amounts of weight.
[For more of this story, written by Patti Neighmond, go to http://www.npr.org/blogs/healt...attle-to-lose-weight]
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