Do you need an accountability partner?
Have you tried doing it on your own, getting healthier, but find after a few weeks you revert back to your old eating habits?
Do you set yourself a health goal, which could be weight loss, go down a dress size, have more energy, exercise more, etc but you give up frustrated within a few weeks when you don’t see the results you expected?
Eating healthily isn’t complicated. In fact most of us know what we should do to eat healthily – that’s what I used to think, about 7 years ago, when I felt unwell and knew I had to change my diet. I didn’t think I needed anyone tell me what to eat, as it was just plain common sense. It was only when I wasn’t seeing any improvement, that I realised I needed to change my approach.
What’s an accountability partner?
Your health goals may be to get over belly bloat or to lose a few pounds. They may be to change the way you eat. However, even though you know what steps you need to take, you probably are not giving it 100% of the effort it requires.
This is where an accountability partner is necessary.
An accountability partner is the person who keeps you accountable. Although this could be a family member or a friend, having close friends or family as your accountability partners can be detrimental to your success if they won’t hold you accountable. Often these well-intentioned people don’t want to get in the way of you enjoying yourself and will let you carry on without questioning your choices. You may not check-in regularly with them and therefore see no progress.
This is where a professional health coach, nutritionist or trainer can help. They are unbiased and as professionals they ensure you will stay on track, focused on your goals.
What your accountability partner will help you do:
Set realistic goals so you stay challenged and will push yourself. Goals should not be unachievable, as you will most likely give up when you don’t see results.
Set short-term targets to measure progress. This is important as we can give up when it takes a long time to achieve our goals. It’s important to break the long-term goals into smaller milestones to see what you are achieving in the short-term.
Set more than one milestone to measure your progress. For example, when clients only want to lose weight as their goal, I have them consider other factors, rather than focusing just on the number on the weighing scales. For example, how well their clothes fit, their energy levels, the cravings they have lost, do they feel more confident, etc.
Keeps you focused on your long-term objectives and having the bigger picture in your mind will keep you motivated. I understand that it does get really frustrating seeing the daily fluctuation on the weighing scale!
Guides you when you feel stuck and don’t know what to do next. Having tried eating healthy and exercised 5 times a week, you may be ready to give up when the results just don’t show. Your accountability partner will explore new approaches with you rather than letting you give up.
Ensure you stay committed to achieving your goals and not get distracted by temptations.
Motivates you when you feel down and are ready to give up. You need encouragement when you are feeling fed up and frustrated and your accountability partner will help you stay on track when you feel you want to give up.
Helps you to get to your goals faster. As you check-in regularly with your accountability partner you will stay focused until your next check-in and push yourself harder, allowing both you and them to see results.
As a qualified personal trainer I know that many people use a personal trainer to push them to get stronger, improve their stamina and take them to a higher level of fitness.
Just like you needing a personal trainer, you do need someone to encourage you to the next level of eating healthily. As a qualified health coach and cancer coach I guide my clients to eat healthily, giving them the tools and education that they need, but most importantly being their accountability partner.
So if you are falling behind and creeping back into the old eating habits, get in touch with me to find out about health coaching.
Below I share two testimonials from two recent clients who have benefited from health coaching.
“My 20-year-old daughter was diagnosed with pre-diabetes and PCOS when we saw an Endocrinologist concerned about her continuous weight gain over adolescence. The Endocrinologist recommended that a proper diet and exercise routine was essential to get the hormones and other indicators working in balance if we were to avoid impending diabetes. That’s when I came to Sujata and after the first consultation we signed up for a 10 session package for my daughter. We met up regularly to keep up with the motivation and push that coaching provides. I realized that a good coach is invaluable when you have a goal and need the gentle push and encouragement, not to mention the whole strategy and program needed to achieve it. Sujata explains in detail what leads to improvements rather than giving a rigid schedule of program to follow. As a result, we experienced a change of mindset regarding lifestyle and nutrition that hopefully has changed our lives health wise. My daughter gradually increased the needed exercise routine and was not put off by the schedule. After 10 weeks saw real change in her weight and even her Endocrinologist has been happy with much better results. Her insulin indicators have greatly improved mostly due to weight loss, exercise and diet management. Consequently she is going to go off her medications needed to keep her insulin indicators in balance. I would highly recommend that continuity and consistent meetings of once in 10 days if not a week for maximum impact. I am very thankful to Sujata and personally I have realized how important nutrition coaching is for health. I would highly recommend Sujata as a health coach. Many thanks Sujata!” SA
“My goals were to lose weight, improve my health parameters for diabetes, cholesterol and fatty liver because I got extremely scared when these health conditions were diagnosed. Sujata gave me the correct direction not only in terms of food but also at a mental and emotional level. She kept it simple as well as practical in today’s times when there is so much contradicting information that one ends up feeling lost and demotivated. The health program has been extremely effective for me, it’s given me the right direction without being too overwhelming and restricting and improved my health considerably in addition to the weight loss I am feeling happier and more positive, not feeling emotional about food and more focused and have increased energy and stamina. I sincerely thank you Sujata for this. ” KK