Weight loss isn’t a short term affair. To lose weight and to keep it off you will have to make long-term, sustainable changes in your exercise habits and diet. A strong source of accountability can make this process a bit easier.
Even after weight loss surgery, accountability plays a big role in the weight loss process. Your weight loss procedure helps you gain control of hunger and cut your portion sizes, but at the end of the day the food choices, the exercise habits and other lifestyle changes are yours to make or break.
There are several avenues through which you may find weight loss accountability. Family, friends, co-workers and your weight loss center may all function as strong external sources of accountability, while personal goals and expectations may drive you to stay on track as internal sources of accountability. There are also tools freely available to help you track your progress, offering an additional form of accountability to your weight loss goals.
Weight loss accountability comes in all sorts of formats. Here are a few suggestions of accountability resources you may want to check out:
- Talk to a friend: Find a friend who wants to become your new weight loss buddy and make a commitment to each other. You can work out together, hold each other accountable for diet choices and encourage each other through difficult times.
- Weight loss journal: This is a form of self-accountability, but it works on the same principal of external motivators. Write your progress in your journal every day. Jot down details like how long you exercised, what you ate and other healthy habits you practiced. You can use this as a resource to track your progress and to hold yourself accountable.
- Internet tools and apps: Consider signing up for an online program or using a smartphone app to hold yourself accountable even more. Earndit is a website that gives you points every time you log a workout or check in at the gym. The popular phone application Lose It encourages you to log everything you eat and every bit of activity you engage in, kind of like a cyber-weight loss journal. There are many other similar programs out there that use other incentives to help you stick with your goals, as well.
How you choose to keep yourself accountable will have a large impact on your weight loss program. There are resources all around you that you can turn to as you lose weight. Take advantage of the different forms of weight loss accountability available to you in Ft. Myers and use them as resources to push your weight loss efforts to the next level.
