If you’re confused about the best weight loss plan, that’s okay.
After all, there’s a lot of conflicting information out there about which approach is best.
But in order for you to succeed, there are two things your weight loss plan must have.
Accountability and structure.
Unfortunately, people usually cringe when they hear the words ‘accountability’ and ‘structure’. That’s because these concepts are often associated with words like discipline, organisation, schedule and systems.
However, incorporating accountability and structure into your weight loss plan will lead to quicker results that you’ll be able to keep, and will give you a freedom that you’ve never known.
The power of accountability
Most people are afraid of being accountable, but let us tell you accountability gets results!
Accountability has been defined as “the acknowledgement of responsibility for your actions with the obligation to report, explain, and be responsible for the resulting consequences.”
Research shows that if you tell someone else about a goal, you have a 65% chance of succeeding. But when you make yourself accountable to the person to whom you’ve made the commitment, you increase your chances of success to a massive 95%!
That’s why it’s so important to tell as many people about your goals as you can, because once you do, you’re accountable to them.
Accountability is a key aspect of our Confidence Avalanche Body & Lifestyle Program — because we know it will lead to your success.
Accountability keeps you progressing and keeps you consistent. Anyone can start exercising and eating healthily, but sticking with it and being consistent is difficult. However, accountability helps you to be consistent with new habits. And we know when it comes to weight loss, consistency trumps intensity every single time.
When you have someone else checking up on you to see how things are going, you’re more likely to do the work required in order to make progress. This may be getting to your exercise sessions, going for a walk, eating healthy food, or even making sure you’re getting enough rest and recovery time so you don’t burn out.
Accountability not only helps you stay on track with what you need to do to lose weight, it actually helps you to do it when motivation is low. And when you’re not getting the results you’re looking for, accountability will show you what you need to work on, in order to get results.
However, accountability isn’t a one-way street. It isn’t just having someone asking how you’re doing and leaving it at that. It’s about you being responsible for your actions, and being answerable for your actions. To succeed in your weight loss plan, you need to take responsibility for your own success by being accountable to yourself as well as your coach.
Accountability is:
- Making a commitment to yourself and your coach
- Taking full ownership of your situation
- Being willing to do what it takes to get the results you want
- Being fully responsible for all of your actions
- Being 100% honest, not just telling your coach what they want to hear
- Consistently giving a report of ALL of your actions and behaviours, not just when you’ve done something positive
- Doing the task you’ve been asked to do, letting your coach know, and then asking for the next step
- Communicating openly and honestly, especially about the things you’re struggling with
- Having difficult conversations without taking things personally
- Taking constructive feedback and using it to improve or change something
- Admitting when you haven’t done something you were asked to do, and then being honest about why you didn’t do it
- Knowing that whatever you’ve been asked to do is necessary for your growth and for you to succeed with your weight loss
- Sharing your own journey with others
- Understanding that this process will get you the results you’re looking for.
Accountability isn’t:
- Doing things when you feel like it
- Choosing what you will and won’t do
- Making excuses as to why you can’t do things
- Running away from the hard things you need to do
- Taking feedback personally and blaming your coach
- Getting frustrated with your lack of results when you’re not doing the work
- Blaming others for your situation, or why you can’t do something
- Complaining about the tasks you’ve been asked to do
- Asking for help only when you need it
- Hiding away and pretending you know all the answers
- Pretending everything is okay when it’s not
- Fudging data that you’ve been asked to track.
Structure
The other thing you need to bring to your weight loss plan in order for you to succeed is structure.
It might sound like hard work, but it will actually save you time, help you achieve more, reduce your stress, and free up time for you to do the things you love. But the biggest bonus is that it will help you lose weight.
Including structure in your weight loss plan is imperative if you want results that last. But why do you need structure?
People often talk about living freely or going with the flow. But, if you live moment to moment, or are always guided by your mood or your feelings, you’ll never achieve anything. If you don’t have a plan or schedule, you’ll never have enough time. Instead, you’ll end up frittering your time away, only to panic when you seem to ‘run out of time’ to do the things you need to do in order to lose weight.
Then what happens is you become stressed and overwhelmed which will slow your results. Or it may cause you to give up altogether because it’s too hard and you ‘just don’t have time’ for it anyway.
Structure means making a plan and then working the plan. It means scheduling time for your workouts, making time to prepare healthy meals, ensuring you get enough rest and ensuring you have time to do all the other things you need to do, including going to work, raising your kids, and enjoying your down time.
When you do this, you’ll have time to do the things you need to do, to support your weight loss goals. Because structure gives you clarity on what’s important, you’ll no longer waste time on things that won’t help you lose weight. Structure actually leads to freedom because you know you’ve got plenty of time for all the things that matter, and you’ll eliminate the stress and worry of trying to do too much.
Ready to add accountability and structure to your weight loss plan?
If you’ve struggled to lose weight and keep it off, chances are you haven’t included accountability and structure into your plan.
But as you can see, both of these things are game-changers when it comes to permanent weight loss. They are the keys to success that most people don’t understand.
If you think you could benefit from a little more accountability and structure to help you lose weight, we can help. All you need to do is reach out to us.
