For those who have tried to advise people on a healthier lifestyle, what results have you had from these?

Question

When it comes to friends, significant others, family, co-workers...

...that we know have unhealthy habits.

Whether it's eating too much junk / processed food, not eating enough fruits / vegetables, being heavy-handed on condiments such as salad dressing, drinking too much soda, not drinking enough water, not exercising at all...

...

...

...and you care about that person, so you want to help that person by, in your own personal style, pointing out what can person can do to better themselves.

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Overall, what type of responses have you had when you done this? In your response, please be specific about what you tried to point out to to people, and how they reacted.

Thanks for your input, everyone. :)

Darkfairie17 · Accepted Answer

I used to have a really ridiculous boyfriend who would do as you were saying and drop 'helpful' hints on trying to better myself. I think if someone comes to you for advice, then by all means, give advice to that person. But if they don't ask for it, and you are worried about their health, then sit down and talk with them. But once you mention it, don't point out things that they do on a regular basis, unless they ask for your help. It just comes across as annoying and mean to do it when it's unsolicited, if it is a repeated thing.

Being someone who has had to listen to this advice, the person giving the advice usually feels they are helping, but it can come across as condescending and mean. I know in my case, my boyfriend was really mean about it. I would come to his house after working a 10hr shift, and would say I was gonna go out to get something for lunch at the grocery store, and he would tell me to wait until supper. Yet I would have to wait 6 hours to eat...that to me isn't healthy. It just makes you crave bad food more or make you go for the worst options in the long run. He would get really angry if I had anything that he deemed 'unhealthy'. Couldn't drink anything but water, even 1% milk would make him yell at me :S

In the end he really didn't understand my weight issue, because he can eat a dump truck load of food and not gain an ounce. Yet I look at lettuce and I can gain weight :S It's just that way for me, I am not someone who leads and abnormally unhealthy lifestyle, I cook and prepare all of my meals from scratch, and I exercise too. Sometimes there are other issues going on and so its always good to be nice about giving advice, but if the person declines, leave it at that.

People have to choose to change, you can't force them to change.

angel1142 · Accepted Answer

About my boyfriend: 1.make him reduce his alcohool consumption= worked really well, he just drinks a little during parties only now : ).

2.stop smoking= still working on it... I'm pretty sure he'll stop the day I'm pregnant though.

3.eating in the morning= he'll eat most of his plate if I make him breakfast.

4.drinking more water, less coffee and other energy drinks= yep! He's doing it on his own : ).

Overall, I'm having a good impact on his healthy choices (i'm a very healthy girl).

For my mom though...she barely followed my advices about better lifestyle :s.

I guess it depends who I'm talking to, if they're open to hearing things from me or not.

WeaponZero · Accepted Answer

Guys are generally more willing to follow your advice if they're serious enough to ask in the first place when it comes to health/fitness, and if they have problems giving up certain junk foods they'll usually straight up tell you when you try to advise them on nutrition.  Girls on the other hand make it sound as if they'll follow your advice but then not, as they often have very unrealistic goals with timeframes set in mind that are impossible to achieve without going about it in a way that is unhealthy and self destructive.

martyfellow · Accepted Answer

I' a part time physical trainer and on the whole I've enjoyed it and most people eventually pay attention to what I tell them and it.   90% of what I say is just common sense; you'd be surprised how little of that is circulating out there these days.

queenofpeen · Answer

I've only ever given advice to my boyfriend because he admitted he doesn't know much about what's healthy and he actually WANTED to learn.

In general though, it's a bad idea to try to tell someone how to live their life. Most people do know the basics of what's healthy and some of them choose to ignore that, so you're not going to be telling them anything new, and you're not going to change them.

I personally roll my eyes at people who say things like, "I'm only telling you this because I care about you." I call them "concern trolls." Most of the time, they don't actually care, they just want to show off their "health wisdom" and then feel good about thinking they've helped someone.

temptationfalls · Answer

People will only change their habits if they want to. If someone asks me for advice I give it to them and be very clear that it's up to them to make the change. If they don't ask I don't bother.

moloz · Answer

I either lie to them or try to connect a healthier lifestyle with their most important interests.

Anonymous · Answer

not good ones. no one cares. you can't change someone's habit if they don't want to. so I don't offer ips or anything

Anonymous · Answer

Unsolicited advice is useless

For those who have tried to advise people on a healthier lifestyle, what results have you had from these?

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