Latest / Chub Chat With Mary / The Power of Community and Accountability!
Transcript
- mary: Hey and welcome to Chubb Chat with Mary. I'm so glad you're here. If you're tired of dieting and ready to find a healthier way to live, you're in the right place. Ditching the diet mentality, learning what really works, and creating a healthy lifestyle we can enjoy. Don't forget, each episode has a workbook. The link is in descriptions. Let's get started. So glad you're here to listen to episode 6. The secret To getting and staying healthy. Power of community and accountability. Who is your go-to accountability person? Do you have one? Do you have someone you check in with every day or every week? Maybe it's your spouse. Maybe it's your best friend. Maybe it's your sister, your daughter, your workout buddy, or maybe it's someone you met online who is working toward their own goals. Or maybe you're thinking accountability person. I don't have one of these. Well, that's what we're talking about today. What if the reason you're struggling to stay healthy isn't because you lack willpower? What if you're simply trying to do it alone? And today we're talking about something that could completely change the way you approach your health journey, community and accountability. Because getting healthy isn't just about what you eat or how much you exercise. It's also about the people around you. What does accountability really mean? When you hear the word accountability, what comes to mind? Some people hear the word and think, Great, somebody is going to check on me and tell me I I messed up. No, no, thank you. That's not accountability I'm talking about. Accountability isn't someone policing you. It isn't someone checking your food journal and saying, Really? You ate that? Had that chocolate? And it definitely isn't someone making you feel guilty because you missed your workout. Healthy accountability is support. It's having someone who asks, How are you doing? Celebrates your wins, encourages you after a bad day, reminds you of your goal, listens without judging, helps you get back on track, and tells you the truth without tearing you down. Sometimes accountability is as simple as receiving a text that says, How are you doing today? That one little question can make a difference. Don't have to be on the same journey. And here's something important. Your accountability person doesn't have to be doing exactly what you're doing. Maybe you're working on eating healthier and your friend is training for a five K. You can still encourage each other. Maybe your husband isn't interested in tracking his food, but he still can ask, Did you get your walking today? Maybe your sister lives three states away. That doesn't mean she can't be your accountability partner. You can text, you can call, you can video chat, you can check in through social media. It's a good one. And accountability doesn't require you to be sitting next to somebody at the kitchen table. It requires connection and consistency. Choose the right accountability person. Now let's talk about choosing the right person. This is important because not everyone is a good accountability partner. You want someone who makes you feel encouraged, not embarrassed. The right person should be supportive, non-judgmental, reliable, honest without being critical, someone who wants you to succeed, someone who respects your choices, someone who understands that you're human. But let's face it, we're going to have bad days. We are. We're going to eat something we didn't plan to eat. We're going to skip a workout. We're going to have a Stressful week. We're gonna say, Well, today didn't go exactly as planned. And that's where a good accountability partner can say, Okay, tomorrow is another day. What can we do next? You don't want them to say, I told you that wasn't going to work. There's a big difference. My experience with accountability, I've experienced the other side of this. When I studied a diet and told some family members about it, some would criticize me because I hadn't finished the last one I started. They say things like What's different about this one? You just start at one last week and it's the truth. And you know what? That doesn't exactly make you want to announce your goals to the world. Sometimes criticism makes us want to hide. And then we're embarrassed. We stop talking about our goals. We stop checking in. We stop asking for help. And eventually we can end up right back where we started. Maybe you've experienced something similar. Maybe you're told Somebody, I'm going to start exercising. And they laughed. Maybe you said, I'm going to start eating healthier. And somebody said, How many times have you said that? That's the truth. Maybe you tried to make a change instead of support you got criticism. That's you, I want you to hear this. Don't have to be embarrassed here. Don't have to be perfect here. You don't have to have everything figured out. Why do we struggle when we got Think about what happens when you're completely on your own. You rely almost entirely on motivation, and motivation comes and goes. Some mornings you're ready to conquer the world. You wake up thinking Today is the day. Drinking my water, eating my vegetables, getting my workout in, going to bed early. At three in the afternoon you're thinking, Where did that woman go? You've all been there. When you're alone, it's easy to skip one day, then another. Then you tell yourself, start again on Monday. Suddenly Monday has become next Monday. We've all done it. The problem isn't necessarily that you don't know what to do. You may already know you should eat more nutritious foods. You may know you should move your body. And you may know you need enough sleep. Problem can be staying consistent long enough for those behaviors to become part of your life. That's where accountability can help. Accountability helps you see your progress. Sometimes we're our own worst critics. Look at everything we haven't accomplished. Don't notice the small things we're doing right. Maybe you didn't lose weight this week, but you walked three times. Maybe you didn't follow your eating plan perfectly, but you drank more water. Those are accomplishments. Maybe you had a terrible week, but you didn't give up. That's why you're here. Those things count. A good accountability partner can help you see progress that you might overlook. They might say, wait a minute, didn't you used to drink soda every day? I sure did. Didn't you say you wouldn't walk for ten minutes? Didn't you tell me you were going to start cooking more meals at home? Sometimes someone else can see our progress before we see it ourselves. Accountability isn't about perfection. Let's get something straight. Accountability isn't. not mean you have to report every single thing you eat. Doesn't mean you have to weigh yourself every day. And it doesn't mean you have to post your weight online. It doesn't mean you have to tell everyone everything about your health journey. You get to decide what accountability looks like for you. Maybe your accountability partner simply asks you three questions every Sunday. What went well this week? What was different? What is one thing you want to work on next week? That's it. Simple. Three questions. That could be enough. Different types of accountability. And accountability can look very different depending on what you need. A workout partner, someone who meets you at the gym. Sometimes you're more likely to show up because you know someone is expecting you. A check in buddy. You text each other every morning. What's your healthy goal today? Then at night, how did you do? Family member. Maybe your spouse, sister, brother, daughter. A friend helps encourage you. An online community. You may find people who understand what you're going through even though you never met them in person. Sometimes accountability may come from a registered dietitian, personal trainer, therapist, doctor, or another qualified professional. Different people need different types of support, and that's okay. What if you don't have someone? Now maybe you're thinking, Mary, this sounds great, but I don't have anybody. First, I want you to know You're not alone in feeling that way. Maybe the people around you aren't interested in healthy living. Maybe your friends don't understand why you're trying to make changes. And maybe your family has criticized you in the past. Or maybe you're just not comfortable sharing your goals with people you know. That's okay. Start small. Don't need to announce your goals to fifty people. Start with one person. Maybe it's someone. you already trust. You could simply say, try to make some healthier changes. Would you mind checking in with me once a week? That's it. That's all you gotta do. You're not asking them to become your health coach. You're asking them to encourage you. What if people have left you down before? This is another important point. Sometimes we find an accountability partner and then they stop checking in or they get busy. Or they lose interest. That doesn't mean your goal wasn't important. It means you may need more than one form of support. Instead of having one person responsible for everything, think about building an accountability team. maybe you have one person who walks with you, one person you text, one online community, one person you talk to when you're having a bad day. Now you're not depending on one person to keep you going. You're creating a support system. Community matters. That's where community comes in. We all need people who understand what we're going through. People who can say, Yep, I've been there. There's something powerful about realizing I'm not the only one. We're all at different stages of becoming healthier. Some people are just getting started. Some people have been working on their health for years. Some people are starting over. Some people are starting over for the tenth time. That'd be me. Guess what? Starting over doesn't make you a failure. Makes you human. We're all in different boats. Some of us have nice little sailboats. Some have canoes. Some of us are sitting in a boat with a hole in it saying, Does anybody have some duct tape? But we're all trying to stay afloat. That's why community matters. We're not all at the same place. But we can still encourage each other. That's what I want Chub Tab to be place where. Where you don't have to pretend you've got it all together. Place where you can learn. Place where you can ask questions. Place where you can celebrate the small wins. Place where you can say, I had a rough week. And instead of somebody judging you, someone says, Okay, let's figure out what happened. Start again. Chub Chat isn't about perfection. It's about learning, trying, falling down, getting back up. And continuing together. Understand that sharing your goals can be scary. You might think, What if I tell somebody and then I don't do it? What if I fail? What if they judge me? What if I change my mind? Here's the thing. Don't have to make some giant announcement. Don't have to post your weight. You don't have to tell the world what you're working on. You can start with something small. Like you could say, This week I'm going to walk for ten minutes. three times. Then tell one person at the end of the week, check in. Maybe you did it three times. Celebrate it. Woo-hoo. Maybe you did it twice. That's still progress. Maybe you didn't do it at all. Okay. Let's figure out why. That's accountability, not punishment. One of the biggest benefits of accountability is that it can help you stay in the game. Because getting healthy isn't about having one perfect week. It's about what you do over time. Think about it like baseball. You're not going to hit a home run every every time you step up to the plate. You're going to strike out sometimes. You're going to hit singles. Maybe you'll hit a double or a triple. And every once in a while you might hit that home run, but you don't quit playing because you struck out. You step back up to the plate. That's healthy living. Stay in the game. So this week I want you to think about two questions. Question one. Who can support me without judging me? Question two. How can I support someone else? Because accountability works both ways. Sometimes we need encouragement. Sometimes we're the person who gives it. Before we wrap up, I want you to remember these five things. Don't need more willpower. Don't need perfection. Don't need to do everything alone. You do need support. And most importantly, you can always start again. Healthy living isn't about never messing up. It's about what you do after you mess up. It's about getting back up. It's about making the next healthy choice. Sometimes the difference between giving up and getting back up is having somebody say, Hey, I'm still here. Keep going. That brings us to this week's Chub Chat Challenge. Sweek, I want you to encourage one person every day. You could leave a supportive comment, celebrate someone's small wins, send someone an encouraging message, check in on someone who may be struggling, tell someone you're proud of them, encourage someone to keep going. Here's an important one. Encourage yourself too, because you deserve some of the same kindness you give other people. When you complete your challenge, send chub chat. Clover and share your win with your accountability partner or with Chub Chat community. And that's your Chub Chat challenge for this week. Now I want to hear from you. Who is your accountability person? Do you have one? If you don't, who could you ask? And what kind of support would help you stay on track? Did anything we talked about today hit home for you? Maybe you've experienced criticism instead of encouragement. Maybe you've been trying to do everything by yourself. Or maybe you've already discovered how powerful having the right people around you can be. We're building chub chat in different places because community can look different for everyone. You might want to leave a comment. You might want to share a win on Instagram. You might want to connect with other people through a group or messaging community, wherever you choose to connect. Goal is the same. Don't have to do this alone. Connect with Chuck Chat. Website Chuckchat WM dot riverside.com. Email chuckchat.26 at gmail. Have a question? Need some accountability? Have a topic you'd like me to chat about? Send me an email or connect with me on social media. Remember we're building a healthier life together. Please have a healthy week. Don't forget encourage somebody. Encourage yourself. Keep going. I'll see you next time on Chump Chat for Episode seven Macros Protein Carbs Healthy Fats. Thanks for watching Chump Chat with Mary. I have a workbook for every episode. You can find the link in the descriptions and show notes. If you completed the workbook or took part in the challenge, or just want to comment, come join my Facebook group, Chump Chat with Mary. The link is in the description and show notes. So tell me all about it. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.