Well, the whole “don’t eat at night” thing is going a lot better than ever before! But, I wake up hungry. So today I had breakfast before my run.
And I had a bad run because my quads are shot to hell from yesterday’s squats. Bah.
But, I had a good watermelon and that’s really all that matters 
It’s funny that I talked about how to approach living healthy without offending your closest peeps on yesterday’s Ask a Monican because my best friend recently reached out to me for support on this. She wants to lose weight and has asked me to help her.
So today Cindy and her little one came to visit. 
We went over what she eats right now, how much she exercises and more. After a week of her emailing me her daily eats we’ve realized she definitely needs snacks on hand to avoid the Taco Bell drive-through.
I loaded her bag up with some bars. 
And we did a light fitness assessment – it included a weigh-in, measurements, talking about her latest doc appt and setting GOALS.
Cindy’s Goals:
1. Lose Weight
2. Run a 5k in November (!)
Today is day 1 of her journey and we’ve decided to email each other every night for accountability to start.
The Plan for the next 4 weeks:
1. Plan out meals on Sunday
2. Email her weight loss buddy (me) every night with her eats and struggles
3. Exercise 3 days a week. She has 4 kids and no gym membership, so she’ll either be doing the Intro Tabata workout or walking on her treadmill at home. In 4 weeks we’ll change this 
Question: Do you have a workout or weight loss buddy? Do you need accountability to stay on track?
I totally need accountability, hence the ol’ blog
A healthy lifestyle with plenty of exercise and eating right can help to improve and maintain your Body Mass Index (BMI). You can calculate your body mass index using this nifty calculator found on the official BMI Private Health Care site.
Run a 5k in November, wow that is an impressive goal. You will have your work cut out for you on that one. Good Luck with it.
What a great blog, lots of stuff
I do so much better with accountability and or a buddy. 5 years ago I lost 61 pounds with weight watchers but after that I got pregnant with my 4th baby boy. At the time though I was going to weight watchers with my sister in law. SInce the pregnancy I have been stuck between 150-160..my goal is 140. It is harder doing it on my own. No gym membership here, that would be just one more bill:(
Go, Cindy, go! I think it’s great you’re getting to use your professional skills to help your friend. So excited for Cindy and looking forward to seeing her progress.
This is awesome. 🙂
I think my accountability partner is myself. If I’m on the couch flipping through blogs and eating mixed nuts, I feel bad because I’m wasting time when I could at least knock out 30 mins of exercise. So I get up and just do it. My hubby thinks I’m crazy because now I record my Sunday weigh-in and daily exercise log on “my” bathroom calendar. If I see a week in which I’ve only done 2 days (or none) of exercise, I’m upset with myself. Also, I record my Sunday weigh-in and it helps when I’m compairing how well I am maintaining my weight week to week.
That’s one of the main reasons I was so successful with SparkPeople. A huge array of people going through the same experiences I was on my weight loss journey. I also had a huge support in my husband, it definitely helps!
I wish I had a workout buddy. I splurged and did personal training for a couple months and was in the best shape of my life! Unfortunately my income does not afford me the option of making this a regular expense.
Perhaps a good goal for me would be to find a new workout buddy or fitness class to help keep me accountable. I have been thinking of checking out CrossFit, but I am scared that may be a bit TOO INTENSE!
That’s great! Best of luck Cindy, and welcome to the club. I actually just started the same kind of regime with a close friend of mine. Daily workout emails & meal plans, video check-ins, and talks – we’re making it work 🙂
Absolutely!!!!! My cousin and I have been on and off workout buddies for two years. Right now we are doing Insanity. If I didn’t have to meet her at the gym, there’s no way I would be there. I have such a hard time working out/running/any kind of activity by myself. I think having an accountability person is the best. Also someone to commiserate with when you legs are sore, you feel like you’ve been run over by a truck, etc. My cousin is my inspiration with weight loss and exercise and I’d be 20 pounds heavier without her.
Hi Monica!
1st, love your blog and your discipline when it comes to eating well and working out.
I have some girlies that we e-mail at minimum once/week for our Wonderful Wednesday Weigh-In. We’ve been doing so since Oct’07 to stay accountable! 🙂
BTW, just HAVE to ask…….often you stop by Whole Foods and places like it after a run. Me – – sweaty and VERY SALTY mess after 6 or so miles. Yesterday I had to pick up coffee filters on my way home from my run and was totally embarrassed. How do you do this? Or is it just me that wears as much salt as a supersize fry from McD’s (which I never eat at McDs)?? I’m beginning to wonder if there’s something my body is lacking, nutritionally, to excrete so much salt. Ideas?
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Skipped my run this morning – which is why I take my hat off to you. My quads, hammies and glutes are definitely sore from yesterday’s killer workout. Even the glutes were screaming at me when I did the elliptical this morning.
I need a measure of accountability, but I do not want someone micro-managing things for me–that just makes me mad and rebellious. Joining an online support group (SparkPeople.com for me) and getting connected there has worked for me. I’ve lost 100 pounds now and am evaluating whether to lose more or focus more on strength training and reducing body fat. At 57, I don’t expect to look like a fitness model, but I do want to be fit and healthy.
I most definitely next accountability. On my weigh in days I text a close friend my loss for the week. So all week I make sure I stay on track b/c I really don’t want to tell I’ve gained.
I love that you are there for your friend. My sister and I are helping each other. She did great today and I have been terrible. Tomorrow is a new day.
I think it’d be great if you did posts on your friend’s progress. Any chance in that? I’m rooting for her!!!
I’m going to update every 4 weeks. Thanks for rooting for her!!!
Hi Monica,
I understand your intentions in helping your friend and as a personal trainer you are obviously qualified. But, how do you feel about telling her how to lose weight when you have repeatedly said you can’t lose the last few vanity pounds you want? You have also frequently written about not being able to stop snacking, eating after dinner, etc.
Thoughts?
Right, I have psychological issues with using food for comfort, which is my struggle with losing the 10 pounds I want to. Luckily, the issues aren’t big enough where my weight is putting my health at risk so I am free to deal with them at my own pace.
I have been very successful helping others lose weight since I have a solid knowledge base. Thanks for your concern.
Great reply Monica.
Just because you are not perfect and struggle does not mean you don’t have incredibly valuable knowledge to help others. You do SO MANY healthy things, we all have out weaknesses and downfalls. I too struggle with emotional eating and know how hard a battle it is.
Your friend is lucky to have a friend like you to support her and offer her help with her goals.
I find working out to be my “me” time, so I look forward to the time that I’m spending lifting weights, doing cardio, etc so I’ve found that I don’t need accountability. But I do love to be there for others and help them if/when they do. 🙂
I use races as goals to keep me on track with my running. i don’t have a fitness buddy per se, but reading blogs helps keep me motivated:) It’s nice to read about other people who are making an effort to eat well and it makes me want to do the same.
Yay, I love that your friend came to you! I have SO MANY PEOPLE that come to me for advice on weight loss, so I am answering emails/facebook messages every day and helping my co-workers… I aboslutely LOVE to spread my knowledge! Staying accountable is great, and a lot of times I feel like I have no one to help me stay accountable since they are always coming to me… again, hence why we are bloggers 🙂
One of the reasons I started my blog was for accountability. It seems like all my running buddies have disappeared lately and as a result I’m neglecting my running, so I’m out for new recruits. (Even my dog doesn’t want to run with me anymore because she is too hot!) I have e-mailed running plans to my sister and another friend to try to get them on board with me for races this spring. The responses are not looking positive.
Having a buddy is sooooo important and helpful. This will be great for the both of you!
I have weight loss buddies and work with them how you do with your friend- emailing meal plans, workouts, and what not. Hopefully it’s working for them!
My accountability is a small calendar that hangs on the bathroom mirror. I write my workouts on it and each day I workout gets a sticker. Yes, even after kindergarten, stickers work. : )
The Kidless Kronicles
I find that going to bed early curbs my nighttime eating. In terms of support, yes I find talking to people in my intuitive eating group helps a lot. It’s hard to find people who understand and respect the nondiet philosophy. I don’t find it helpful to count calories with others, nor track my exercise with others. It’s triggering for me. However, it DOES work for a lot of people. I do like the support of people when I take a Group Exercise class. Do you have any interest in pursuing that Zumba teaching? Just curious!
I’ve recently started tracking my food occasionally just to monitor my nutrients that I am/am not getting (not trying to lose weight)and I was amazed at how much I actually eat! Recording it all down was all the accountability I needed!
I had an appointment with a nutritionist about a month ago and that really held me accountable. I had to write down what I ate for 2 weeks and that’s the only time I ever stuck to it because I knew I’d be held accountable. After the appointment I didn’t write down my food at all, and I went downhill.
But recently I joined a weight loss challenge group at my park district and the prize is cash money! That’ll keep me motivated!
You mentioned in your video to be supportive and offer to help your friends with their weight loss goals, but I guess I am always afraid that responding to something like that will be offensive? When my friends mention that they are trying to lose weight or need to lose weight, I feel like they are expecting me to respond with “OH, you don’t need to lose weight!” and anything else would hurt their feelings. It makes for very awkward conversation, and I am never sure quite what to say. Any insight?
I’ve had a similar conversation with Ben where I respond, “I think you’re perfect. But, if you want me to help you I can set up a running plan for that 5k…” (or something similar)
thanks! that’s a good idea.
I joined a biggest loser challenge. That definitely keeps me motivated and accountable. I want to win some $$$!
I’m highly motivated by my worse critic which is me. I am really disappointed in myself if I don’t meet my exercise goals. I’m not awesome on the nutrition end though I’ve been eating a lot more produce lately.