Accountability

Accountability is one of the primary keys to successful weight loss. We can have all the best intentions in the world but old habits, fatigue, temptations and other factors can undermine our resolve if we haven't set up a system of reporting our progress. You CAN report to yourself through charts and online programs and such. I highly recommend that actually. But it's very helpful to have an outside source as well for the following reasons:

-Too easy to cheat when it is only you that will know.

- If it is someone who has been through a similar experience themselves they can offer tips and insights and compassion to you on your journey.

-If it is someone who is currently on the same path as you, you can be supportive of one another and be workout buddies too. More fun always to exercise with a friend to talk to.

-You are far more likely to do what you committed to do if you know there is someone waiting to hear from you that you did it. That little sense of outside pressure can help you overcome inertia and the pat on the back they give you when you report in is an added reward that helps keep you motivated.

Accountability can be as simple as just having a friend to call once a week to tell about your successes or frustrations. Someone you meet with on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to go walking with perhaps. I have one friend who started a page on facebook to chronicle her weight loss journey and get support from her friends. Weight watchers and other such programs are built around the principle of accountability and reporting so they can be a good resource. A personal trainer or life coach might also be useful. Online chat rooms are out there where you can find like-minded people. (There are a few forums like this on my beachbody site that are pretty active  www.beachbodycoach.com/fitnessmamax9) Or running clubs where you set goals together. Be creative and think about the type of support that would be most helpful to you personally. Then enlist your friends or professionals to help. Family members are often not the best source for this as I will talk about in a later post. Try to seek out people who know a little bit about the topic or have lost a lot of weight or are actively trying to themselves. Just be sure that at least weekly you have a place to report your progress to.

In the spirit of this I need to confess that I had some medication that interfered with my synthroid and I piled on twenty pounds again in a hurry (just a couple of months) before figuring out what was wrong and correcting the dosage situation. I'm am deeply frustrated by this since the doctors should have known better than to give me something that nullified the synthroid, but I'm not gonna sit and whine out my excuses. Won't do any good. Just practicing what I preach and putting it out here on the blog to set up some accountability for ME. No matter why the pounds came back on I am going to get them back off by going back to basics right along with you. This is a lifetime process.