Sometimes it seems as though we never outgrow peer pressure, or more correctly, peer influence. For example, when it comes to exercising and healthy eating, your friends have a bigger influence on you than you may think.

And if you're the only one in your crowd who has a gym membership, gets excited about hot yoga or feels compelled to order a big salad in lieu of a basket of wings, all to the amusement of your sedentary pals with pudgy middle regions, you might find your friends' unhealthy attitudes inadvertently causing your weight to creep up. Then, the next thing you know, you're ditching spinning class to meet your friends at the pub and calling the waitress back to add a side of fries to your basket of honey garlic wings.

Not surprisingly, research shows that we often look to our friends for how to act. And when it comes to exercise and eating a healthy diet, their actions speak volumes and influence us heavily.

So what can you do?

You have two choices: Either ditch the bad influences and become friends with more fitness and diet conscious folks or try to get those bad influences to join you in your quest for healthier living.

I'm not advocating you drag your sweat-adverse pals to an hardcore spinning class or start slapping chicken wings from their hands (then you really will need to find yourself some new companions), but I am suggesting you become a health conscious leader in your group.

How to win over and influence your friends

By taking charge of your group of friends, you'll need to motivate and inspire them to live more healthfully. Here are five simple ways to help influence your friends to be more active and diet conscious:





1. Lead by example: If you've already got a gym membership, attend spin classes and order big salads-great! You know what it takes to keep a healthy figure and your actions will rub off on others.

2. Talk about your successes: Love how you feel after finishing a hard workout? Tell your friends about it. The more you share your successes, the more your friends will be curious about experiencing them, too.

3. Overcoming failures: Staying active and keeping a healthy diet is tough work. We've all been in slumps and had to figure out ways to overcome them. Share your best tips on how you conquered some of your biggest exercise and diet challenges.

4. Boost confidence: Be sure to compliment even small improvements in any exercise and eating behaviours in the group. Trust me-they'll appreciate you noticing and you'll encourage them to keep going.

5. Talk up the benefits: We all know that exercise and healthy eating are good for us physically, but what about some of the other benefits? Tell your friends that not only will their jeans look cuter, but that exercise improves the mood, gives you more energy and adds up to better sex life!

Once you inspired your friends to embrace healthier lifestyles, here are 10 things you can do together:

1. Develop a routine: Meeting for dinner? What if you met across town and walked to the restaurant? Or how about a power walk afterwards? Instead of lounging around gorging on dessert, hit the sidewalk.

2. Meatless Mondays: Trimming meat from your diet is one way to help prevent several chronic illnesses. Why not go meatless together once a week? Exchange some of your favourite meatless dinner ideas and make Mondays meatless.

3. Drop the calorie bomb: "Do you know how many calories are in that?" Be that friend and remind them how many calories are in nachos and wings.

4.Choose healthier restaurants: The Heart and Stroke Health Check Program is now available at many restaurants. Skip the burgers and check out some healthier places to eat.

5. Take advantage of freebies: Most gyms offer guest passes to friends of memebers. Once you get them to the gym, show them the ropes and what a great workout looks like.

6. Eat this instead of that: Hosting a dinner party? Serve fruit kabobs instead of chocolate cake. Meeting for a coffee? Choose a regular with milk instead of a frappuccino. Cooling off on a hot summer night? Go for fro-yo instead of a banana split. If you all make the healthy choice, life will be a lot less tempting.

7. Make your social life more active: Move your social life from the pub to the park or the beach. Take a soccer ball, a badminton set, a baseball glove or Frisbee. Burn calories while catching up on the latest gossip.

8. Pick your favourite charity: Most major charities hold annual marathons and races. Sign up as a team and set up a weekly practice schedule. Inspire each other.

9. Take it outside: Grabbing coffee? Take it to go instead of sitting in the café.

10. More potluck picnics: Picnics are a great way to enjoy the outdoors. Challenge your friends to make healthy salad and bring dishes that are waistline-friendly.

Paul Gorczynski is currently pursuing his PhD in exercise psychology at the University of Toronto. His research looks at psychological and environmental factors that influence exercise participation. To find out more about his research or to submit a question, contact him at paul.gorczynski@utoronto.ca