Think about the last time you had a project to do with a partner. It may have been at school, work, or even at home. For me, it was at home. My wife and I just finished making an outdoor table for our patio.
What I want you to think back to was how much quicker that project went since you had a partner. In my situation, we were able to knock out the table in one day. It’s solely because my wife and I put our heads together, shared the work, and got the project done faster than we could have if we had done it alone.
The reason I want you to think about this is because having someone support you can make all the difference in the world when it comes to weight loss.
When you begin changing the food you eat and getting to the gym more often, it can eventually become tough. And I’m sure we have all been there at one point or another.
You wake up early to get to the gym before you head into work. You make sure you get a salad for lunch, because it’s better than the meals you normally eat. You do this for a few weeks and you feel great.
Then you wake up one morning and want an extra 5 minutes of sleep. That 5 minutes turns into an hour and now you don’t have time to get to the gym. Because of this, you aren’t worried as much about what to eat once lunch roles around.
You eventually reach a point where you get to the gym maybe once every few weeks and you don’t pay attention to your food any more. You wonder why it has become so difficult to maintain a healthier lifestyle.
One of the reasons this happens is a lack of accountability. The dictionary defines accountable as “required or expected to justify actions or decisions”.
When someone is holding you accountable, you have to be able to explain each decision made. If you make a poor decision, you have to own up to it.
Most people don’t like the feeling they get when having to do this. They want their accountability partner to be proud of them. That’s one of the reasons why making a good decision is easier.
The cool thing is there are actually studies showing this very thing.
One study had a group of obese subjects who had hypertension and/or dyslipidemia attend 20 weekly group meetings to focus on improving their diet and encourage exercise (1). By the end of 20 weeks, the average weight loss among each participant was 12.76 lbs.
Another study examined the relevance of online social support (2). The authors conducted surveys and interviews among those who use internet forums and online support systems like Sparkpeople.com. Of those interviewed, over 87% said the thing that helped them the most was encouragement and motivation among the other users.
Here are just a few of the statements offered by those that were interviewed.
“People have helped in giving ideas on healthy food and snacks when you get bored of the same old “diet” food.”
“They encourage you to never give up, but keep on striving for your goals.”
“They never criticize you for making wrong choices, like a burger at McDonald’s, and just encourage you to get right back on track.”
“Lots of congratulations for losing five pounds.”
“The accountability from my teams of the weigh-ins has been really helpful in keeping me in line on the weekends.”
“We check on each other if we haven’t posted in a few days to make sure we are okay.”
As you can see, one of the reasons internet social support was so helpful was because they always had someone there making sure they were doing the work they needed to do in order to be successful. That’s why accountability works in general.
When we try to tackle a large goal by ourselves, we can get burnt out to the point where we want to quit. Having someone their can make all the difference in the world. They can push you to do things you didn’t think you were capable of doing.
So my advice to you is to find someone who can hold you accountable for your actions. It may be a spouse, a co-worker, a gym buddy, or personal trainer. The important thing is to actually get someone on board to help you.
You can accomplish your goal. You may just need a little help, and that’s ok. Find someone who can offer that support and you will be amazed how much progress you can actually make.
References:
1. Hollis, J.F. et al. Weight loss during the intensive intervention phase of the weight-loss maintenance trial. Am J Prev Med. 35(2): 118 – 126.
2. Hwang K.O. et al. Social support in an internet weight loss community. Int J Med Inform. 2010 Jan; 79(1): 5-13.
Photo Credit:
1. http://www.estherspina.com/live-an-accountable-life/
