Write it down... EVERYTHING!

Oh Accountability, you and I have been dancing around each other for a while, but last week I got a hold of your coat tail and I'm trying my best to hang on!!  If any of you reading this has ever felt out of control with anything... not completing tasks, loosing weight, cleaning the house, ANYTHING... all I can say is write everything down!  Seriously, journal about everything.  If you actually see in black & white what you're eating, feeling and doing (work, gym, etc) than you can see how far you've come and be proud of your accomplishments, or have the proof that you need to 'adjust' your habits a bit to get the results you want in life.

Last week I started my Accountability Journey as a result of a good hard look.  A look at my house, my yard, my fridge, my body.  Every idea or project I have had in the past year (or five!) has been started with excitement, but then petered off when my self-diagnosed ADD kicks in and I turn all of my energy to something new.  I told you many blogs ago how shiny I think everything is, right??  And you already know I'm a list lover, so I made lists.  LOTS of them.  Chores lists for my day to keep things 'flowing' that need to be finished and kept on top off.  I know, it sounds too structured, but it's a starting point until I can train my brain into a new daily routine.  It goes hand in hand with my food intake.  And here's where I start to stress how we should write things down. I'll share the chores stuff later :)

About 3 months ago I started training at the gym, with a trainer and a nutritionist by my side.  They keep me accountable while I'm there, but only I can be held responsible for what I eat.  I started using one of my favorite things... My Fitness Pal.  It's one of many free online food & exercise journals offered and I love it.  I downloaded the app on my phone and have been super strict about logging everything... food, water, work outs, unplanned snacks; even the occasional naughty beer swilling at a Red Sox game (you know you would too!).  It honestly only takes minutes to do and the benefits are YOUGE! (spoken in my best Donald Trump voice).  I can see that I'm not that perfect of an eater (no shit Sherlock) and that my 'eye-balling' of portions is about as off as you can get.  Another thing it offers is the recipe maker.  It allows you to enter in a recipe and it breaks it down for you... calories, fat, carbs, etc per portion.  SWEET!!  Try it.  You'll love it.

But the one thing that I always do when starting a new exercise/diet regimen, and did not this time around, is take body measurements.  You look at yourself in the mirror all the time and you may not notice the changes that are happening.  I was reminded of this when my best friend mentioned how defined my face looked in a photo and "how much weight I've lost".  Umm, no, my clothes are still fitting the same and no, I still look and feel like a fat-ass.  Well, umm NO right back at myself.  It seems that I've lost more than I realized.  I measured my bod yesterday and compared it to my last measurement (Oct '11) and I'm thrilled to report that I've lost an all over total of 16.5 inches (WOW!!!), with the majority of it gone from my waist & bust.  YAYAYAYAYYYY!!!!!!  As for the clothes still fitting the same, I'm forgetting that I've slowly removed an item or two along the way and am weeding out the stuff that becomes too loose... hence my clothes seeming to still fit the same :)

So I stress... WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN!!  You will be surprised, sometimes pleasantly, at what you end up seeing!!  And with that said, I'm off to the gym!  I'll write later and share the lists I've created.  They're keeping me in line pretty well ;)