This is my sixth post on the keys to successful maintenance over the past two months. It will be the final one unless I get additional input in the comments below.
Through a bit of reading, we learned about many of these keys:
- Self-regulation, or the ability to control your own behavior to meet long term goals
- Self-efficacy, or the belief in your own capabilities to perform specific behaviors
- Autonomous motivation, or staying aware of the importance of a behavior to reach a goal or outcome
- Positive body image, or finding acceptance, respect, and comfort in your own skin
- Flexible eating control, a moderate dietary approach rather than an all-or-nothing outlook
Is there something you’d add to this list? I’m thinking about accountability. For this piece of the puzzle, I have this blog (don’t want to be a hypocrite and tell you to take up practices that I ignore) as well as my TOPS Club weigh-in meetings. In addition, I am fortunate enough to have a supportive doctor and dietitian.
How do you stay accountable? Here are some ideas that to try:
- Get an accountability buddy – that you can speak with or write to daily on a regular basis (1).
- If you don’t have an in-person accountability buddy, try an app or even just declare your intentions on social media (1).
- In a study done at North Carolina State University, participants who had weight loss buddies to share their experiences with lost more weight than those dieting alone (2). (Whether the buddy was a romantic partner or not, it was important to have a weight loss buddy!)
- Mather Hospital’s Marielle Mangano, RD, CDN has created a list of several ways to improve our accountability, including: finding a buddy, regularly attending nutrition and doctor’s appointments, updating loved ones, joining exercise or healthy cooking classes, and signing up for a 5K run or a bike ride (3).
- Technology can also provide accountability. In the Journal of Medical Internet Research, scientists found that supportive accountability measures were effective in technology mediated weight loss programs (4).
- If you have a disease that is affected by obesity, this can prove to be a weight loss incentive, particularly if you are in frequent contact with your medical provider. In a study of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, “Early and significant weight loss, accountability to clinicians and regular appointments with personalised feedback were facilitators to engagement and adherence. The desire to receive positive reinforcement from a consultant was a frequently reported facilitator to adherence” (5).
- Accountability to god or another higher presence may be an important factor for some of us who follow spiritual teachings. Here is an example from the Bible. 1 Corinthians 6 19-20: “19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (6). There are many other verses admonishing us to avoid gluttony. Perhaps your faith has advice on this topic as well.
- Try these ideas, but don’t be too hard on yourself if you have some setbacks, which can be very common on this long journey (7).
A study at Oxford found that feelings of shame around not meeting particular targets were linked to giving up. ‘Feelings of shame were linked with abandonment of efforts,’ the authors wrote. ‘Findings highlight the centrality of interpretation of self-monitored data, the implications this interpretation has on the sense of self, and the impact of broader discourses.’ Essentially see the weighing and tracking as a positive, not another way to get down on yourself or come up short” (7).
It’s my hope that we all can learn how to succeed with our health goals. I’ll continue to find more information on weight maintenance.
If you have any ideas to share, please comment below or drop me a message in Facebook Messenger or my FB Group related to this blog, Maintain a Healthy Weight: https://www.facebook.com/groups/253810120512626/?ref=share_group_link
(1). https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/well/live/habits-health.html
(3). https://www.matherhospital.org/weight-loss-matters/accountability-and-weight-loss/
(4). https://www.jmir.org/2020/7/e17967/
(5). https://bmjopengastro.bmj.com/content/8/1/e000678.abstract
(6). https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%206%3A19-20&version=NIV
Maintain Weight Loss 