Research Supporting ah.mi
Rachel founded ah.mi on a gut feeling; she needed a push to get healthy, and she wanted to start with her friends because they were the ones who really motivated her. Turns out, she was onto something.
Yes, eating healthy and being active is a whole lot more fun with your friends, but research shows that social support from friends and family is important for successful weight-loss and maintenance. In a study about participating in a weight-loss program with your friends and increasing social support, participants who enrolled in the weight-loss program with friends and increased social support did a better job of keeping the weight off than participants who enrolled by themselves without the increased social support.
While our focus is on developing lifelong healthy habits instead of weight-loss, the motivation of your gals inspires you to turn occasional attempts at eating healthy and being active into part of your everyday (bc if your friends can do it, so can you!). That’s that ah.mi magic ✨
We’re intentionally vague about “eating healthy” because we know what works for one person, may not work for someone else. Research from a study in 2017 shows that sticking to a plan is more important than the diet itself. Instead of prescribing a particular diet as “the” diet, the study found that by tailoring what you eat to your unique dietary preferences, you’re more likely to keep at it. We’re here to inspire you to eat healthy with super simple, tasty recipes and nutrition tips from our Registered Dietitian.
You also decide how you want to “be active” because if you don’t love your workout, you’re not gonna do it. Research suggests that how we view physical activity can help or hurt our motivation to get movin’. In this study, those who viewed exercise as a part of life rather than something that is getting in the way of life, were more physically active. This is where your ah.mi gal pals come in!
Interested?
References
https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-006X.67.1.132
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5618052/. Dansinger M.L., Gleason J.A., Griffith J.L., Selker H.P., Schaefer E.J. Comparison of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers, and Zone diets for weight loss and heart disease risk reduction: A randomized trial. JAMA. 2005;293:43–53. doi: 10.1001/jama.293.1.43.
https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-017-4361-1. Rethinking physical activity communication: using focus groups to understand women’s goals, values, and beliefs to improve public health