Weight Loss Update: Accountability is The Key to Staying on Track
By: Am Costanzo
Tags: Self, Weight Loss, Wellness, Fitness, Life

When you're honest, vulnerable, and willing to share your weaknesses, it turns out that’s the best thing you can do for yourself.

Actually, it’s all in the sharing of said weaknesses that’s best.

Once you open your mouth and share with others about what you’re struggling with and how you plan to improve your situation, as I did here when I committed to experimenting with new ways to lose weight, you become strongly committed to following through, because no one wants to be called out, or pegged as the one who is always complaining yet doing nothing about changing things up. (Don’t be that person.)

I definitely re-learned this over the last three weeks, and in case you’ve been following along on my weight loss experimentation, here are my updates on what I’ve learned, and what has served me well so that perhaps you may begin your own experiments.

1. You guys are incredible and you don’t even know it!

That’s because I now feel accountable to all of you — and even though it’s a mystery as to who actually reads my dribble, it’s enough to keep me honest — even if it’s one person.

For example, over the weekend (which I crushed by the way!) I was sitting on the sofa contemplating what to eat next — I was well within my intermittent fasting hours of eating so that’s all on the up and up — and I hadn’t worked out yet.

Now, to be honest, I was close to bagging the workout because it was an overcast, drizzly kind of day, and what better way to spend that time than curled up on the sofa watching football, or a good movie?

Typical move, total no-brainer. Usually.

But then I thought of you — yes ‘you’ who is reading this now — and I knew I shared with you my plan, plus I committed to getting those darn star stickers over the weekend, which meant I had to workout. I simply had to.

So, with an imaginary nudge from you, I got up and went to workout. And you know what? Of course you know — I felt amazing afterward. I was so damn proud of my little self that I marched right up to my office and put a sticker on my calendar (I swear, it’s the little things that make life great)!

Holding yourself accountable to others can be the motivation and the discipline you need that finally gets you doing what needs to be done. Find yourself an accountability partner and woman up!

2. I’ve realized this one true, indisputable fact: You have to want to change more than you want to stay the same.

Staying the same is easy — but that doesn’t mean it’s better — and change is oh so hard!

It requires daily reinforcement to stick to the path you’d, at some point, want to jump from. (This is where accountability is ginormously beneficial. GI-normously!)

If you don’t have an accountability buddy, you’re missing out on quality guilt, which you need if you’ve been struggling.

However, and this is super important, you really do have to be fed up with your situation. You have to want to live a better life and you have to know it’s possible — because it is. If you don’t have that fire in your belly, you’re not going to work as hard, and you’ll let the excuses reign supreme.

People will line up for a better life, but once they realize the work that they need to put in and the daily discipline that’s required, they back out. They stay the same. They go back to wishing, not doing.

You have to really want it. Otherwise, it’s not going to happen.

3. I am loving intermittent fasting.

The mere fact that I don’t feel like a waddling penguin anymore is reasoning enough for me to keep this up for-eva!

If you struggle with late-night eating, this is your White Knight upon his fiery steed. Even when my husband pulls out the chips, or makes nachos, it’s not a struggle to say no because if it’s after 7:30, my brain knows.

Once you make a decision, there is no decision left to make, and that eliminates the struggle.

Experiment, and keep it simple.

I’m working out harder than before — to the point of sweat dripping off my face — and I’m not loading up on late-night calories. That’s it. Simple. And it’s working.

And for that, I thank you, oh mystery reader, for giving me the opportunity to share my weaknesses and allow me the opportunity to right my ship.

By the way, I crushed the weekend…