Creating accountability to ensure success

Each New Year's, millions of people across America resolve to start working out, get in shape, join a gym, lose weight, eat healthier foods, or some combination of the above. Most of them fail. Part of the reason for this is that most people try to go it alone, rather than finding support they need other people to help get them through.

Of course, the first thing a person needs to have before starting a fitness program is inner motivation. You can't do it for someone else - it sounds like a cliche, but you really have to do it for yourself.

However, as this brief article on the Mayo Clinic website notes, a support group of like-minded people can also offer accountability, which can be a strong motivation to stick to weight-loss and fitness goals.

When I first started Insanity in March, I didn't know what an accountability group was. I didn't think about whether I needed support. I decided to order the program on a whim, so I figured I would just do my best to keep up with the schedule (which was daunting, to say the least). I planned to jump from essentially no daily exercise to 40-60 minute workouts, 6 days a week. It was probably a recipe for failure, but I was lucky - I found a range of support, both on-line and among friends, which helped me stay motivated to finish.

Initially, I started reading some of the Insanity threads on the Beachbody message boards until I found one that suited me. The thread's leader was a really positive guy who'd had lots of success with the program, and other members offered encouragement and solid advice. Having a place to post what I accomplished each day (even if I had a bad workout or missed one altogether) kept my mind focused on moving forward through the program. Plus, having a community of people who were facing the same challenges helped motivate me to finish the entire program. Twice!

Even more importantly, some of my friends in Brussels started doing Insanity with me. Nobody else was doing the entire program, but at least 3 or 4 days a week I had someone else in the room with me, suffering through the same pain. Not only was it a great bonding experience, but knowing that others were planning to exercise with me kept me on track. I can't thank my friends enough for all of their support.

Now, with the upcoming move to England, I know I won't have a group of friends ready and willing to share in my suffering. At times I'm worried that I won't stick with my new-found dedication to fitness, and that I'll go back to my old ways. However, I've recently started my own on-line Focus T25 accountability group on the Beachbody website. I'm hoping for two things - that I can create a small community of my own to help hold me accountable, and that the community I create can provide support to other people, giving them a place to be held accountable as well. Even though we're all ultimately responsible for our own fitness success, it sure does help to have people supporting you during the tough times.