Growing numbers blog off the pounds

By, Amber Yake

When she first started blogging, Margarita Bertsos hoped it might help her lose weight. What she wasn’t expecting was that it would help her find herself.

“Having to talk about my weight issues daily forced me to think about everything in my life – the people, places, things – that contributed to my daily struggle with overeating and my body image,” she says. “Journaling publicly forced a level of self-awareness that I might not have otherwise had.”

Bertsos, who is an assistant editor at Glamour magazine, was the Shape Up blogger on glamour.com for more than a year and, in the process, she lost 75 pounds. Her blog, Margarita Shapes Up, attracted hundreds of readers every day. As part of its website, glamour.com hosts several blogs that cover topics ranging from fashion and finance to healthy living.

Using blogs as a place to document food, exercise and insecurities with weight loss is becoming a new phenomenon. More healthy living/weight loss blogs are being started every day.

Lynn Rogers of Halifax, N.S., started blogging when she decided to make healthy lifestyle changes and she has since lost almost 100 pounds. Her blog, Life, Health & Fitness, documents her day-to-day life, food choices and exercise.

“The same week that I committed to the healthy lifestyle changes I also started my first real weight loss blog and have blogged almost daily since,” Rogers says. “Blogging has been a real outlet for me because it’s allowed me to connect with other people going through the exact same thing.”

For these women, and many others like them, blogging is more than a way to be published. It’s a way to connect and get feedback from other people who have gone through the same experience.

According to Barbara Koren, a registered dietician at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, B.C., having a support system is a very important part of a successful weight loss program.

“People are often great at starting something and have good intentions but we’re very busy and we have certain habits that we fall back on,” she said. “Having support helps you keep on track.”

Many bloggers who use blogging as a weight-loss tool attribute much of their success to the community of people they interacted with online.

According to Angela Power, a blogger from Halifax, N.S. who has lost 130 pounds, blogging put her in the correct mindset to achieve her weight loss goals.

“Anyone will agree that while nutrition and exercise are the determining factors that physically determine your weight loss, the proper mindset and mental stamina is the key driving force,” she said.

Power’s blog, Angie all the Way, receives hundreds of page views a day from other bloggers and people who are on a similar journey.

“Blogging has provided me with the most amazing support system to help me keep getting up when I fall. It has helped me keep my head on straight when I want to throw in the towel because of the amazing encouragement and support that I receive from my readers and now, some very special and amazing friends,” she says.

Karina Arrue, a freelance writer who took over for Bertsos on glamour.com’s Shape Up blog, says she owes her success to the accountability the blog gave her.

“Having an audience that was reading about my daily struggle certainly helped,” she says. “There were definitely days where I wanted to quit, but knowing that there were other people who were counting on me for inspiration made me continue. The accountability factor is huge when it comes to weight loss.”

Koren says feeling accountable to others is important in achieving weight loss.  

“If you know someone else is going to look at it, people are more likely to think twice about what they’re eating,” she said.

The weight-loss bloggers also use their blogs to take a look at themselves and their personal relationships with food.

“The biggest impact that blogging had on my weight loss is in the ways it helped me deal with the shame and isolation I was riddled with as a result of how big the weight problem had become,” Bertsos says. “I thought blogging would require me to bare my soul to an audience, but the process was actually about facing myself in the mirror.”

Arrue found blogging to be so useful to her journey that when her time writing for glamour.com’s Shape Up blog ended, she created her own blog to continue the experience and maintain the accountability and motivation that blogging gave her.

“I plan on being fit for life, which is why I started my own blog, Karina Works it Out, right after,” she says. “I still feel like I need the accountability and motivation that comes from regular blogging.”

If there’s one thing that each one of the bloggers can agree on, it’s that blogging has changed their lives in more ways than just weight loss.

“I have found an incredible network of friends who face the exact same struggles that I do every single day," Powers says. "I am not alone and it has not only taught me that, but it's taught me how much help there is amongst this amazing community.”

“Blogging can change your life; sounds cheesy, but it's true," adds Rogers. "It has allowed me to learn more about myself then I ever thought possible. “I've used posting to analyzing my actions and emotions, and I've also used it as a tool to work towards personal goals like losing the weight and learning to run.”

“Had it not been for Shape Up I would definitely not be where I am today,” Arrue says.