If the only person you are accountable to is yourself, then you are more likely to cave on a goal you have set. There’s success in numbers, in partners, and a solid support system. It doesn’t matter if it’s a career goal or health goal or some other personal goal. If you have people in your corner rooting for you or sharing in trying to achieve some objective it makes things easier. Ok, maybe not easier but certainly more achievable.

Why? Because accountability matters. I would not have been able to get through 30 days of eating only Whole Foods without the support of my beautiful sister and lovely friend Becky. I probably would have quit in the first week. It’s also evident in my attempts to change my bad habits by myself.

Left on my own, I tend to not make great choices. I’m my own worst enemy. It’s day 3 of my personal challenge and let me tell you, it’s a struggle. Yesterday I didn’t have a problem resisting temptation for the new things I’m restricting in my diet, but I ended up substituting those cravings with indulgence in something I’m not restricting. That’s not going to work.

My kids and I went to a trampoline/adventure park last night and after we were done they convinced me to take them for ice-cream. Normally I don’t eat ice-cream and normally I’m not really tempted, but last night I was all like “I’ve been good all day so what’s the harm”. There was nobody around to encourage me in the right direction.

In doing that I broke two of my personal rules. 1. Ice cream 🍨 is on my top 5 no list unless it’s a special occasion, which it wasn’t. 2. Don’t eat in the 3 hours before bed. In other words, give the digestive system 3 hours to process what is in the stomach before bed.

There’s a few other “rules” I always try to live by to maintain, but those two are near the top. So while I stayed within the parameters of my new rules, breaking old ones equates to a failed day. But I’m not throwing in the towel on November. I’m going to call it a “learning opportunity” and the lesson is that sugar IS truly the real enemy and my addiction is real. Ok, so that’s not new news, but it just goes to show that if I say I’m not having coffee with sugar and cream, my mind will look for other ways to get the fix.

What I should be restricting is sugar. I know from the Whole 30 that when push comes to shove, I’ll eat a lot of sweet fruits to try and tame that beast. Including eating those stupid RX bars that are full of sugar from dates. It’s supposed to be an emergency/last resort snack and I was eating them every day. So what’s a girl to do? Cut added sugars again. Can I do that? I don’t know. I’m not sure I can without help.

I need a support system. I need someone to be accountable to besides myself. I need someone who is going to cheer me on and hold me to my word. The first half of the day is always easy for me but as each day drags on, the later it gets, the more my resolve starts to slip away. When that happens, I need someone to remind me what the goal is. My kids are NOT going to help. They are the opposite. It would be nice if I had someone to do this with.

Perhaps I should hit my sister up again on this one. Jim already eats a no sugar diet, but I have a feeling he will disagree with my plan. 🤔 I’ll talk with him on Monday about it and see what he thinks. That gives me the weekend to think about it too. See.. another trick of the mind already looking for loopholes to let me off for the weekend. Ugh! The struggle is real.

In any case, I think that accountability is one of the fundamental components required to meet with success on any goal. If that accountability is external, it’s even more effective. We don’t want to let others down. Also, it’s more enjoyable to do things with other people and share in the experience.

What will happen on day 3? Hopefully it will be better than day 2. It’s time to go find out…

Let’s Do This Saturday Thing We Do,

~Miss SugarCookie