The No-Buts-About-it-In-Your-Face Partner

If this week had a cheesy theme it'd be "Dre Goes Solo." Or "Dre & The Workout: Mono y Mono." (and i have no idea if i'm spelling that right.)

This week is spring break at the university where i work - so that means that the campus totally empties out and while my office was open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - we fortunately had today off and will have tomorrow off as well. I was looking forward to some time to catch up on projects, get a jump start on some upcoming presentations, etc. But what i hadn't really geared myself up for is that all of my accountability partners were somewhere else this week.

So no one down the hall asking me if i'm ready to hit the gym, or to recount to me what she ate yesterday and how she felt about it. No tweets from the next building with "pump you up" messages to help me mentally prepare for a solid healthy day. In fact, on Monday i so totally caved that i went out to eat with a co-worker and ordered something i would never order. I just hadn't mentally prepared myself to go it "alone."

But I trotted my solo buns over to the gym on Monday and I went to the same room where we usually do turbo and I put my cd in and did Round 39 all by myself. It's amazing how much easier it is when i'm not calling out cues the whole time! :) And then I came home and walked my puppy. That made me feel a LITTLE less terrible about my unfortunate eating decision for lunch.

On Tuesday, I had an evening meeting after work so i knew i had to incorporate working out into my day. I challenged myself to burn at least 300 calories as i didn't have a full hour to give to my workout since i had to get ready to go back into the office. I was pleased with my performance on el elliptical and knocked out almost 400 calories in about 40 minutes. I found the calorie burn challenge more appealing because it wasn't tied to a timer/count down - i was just pushing hard to burn calories. Gotta love my BodyBugg for helping me know EXACTLY how many calories i'm burning all the time.

Even after working out at lunch - I knew I still had ChaLEAN Extreme to complete after my evening meeting. I ended up sitting on the couch with my puppy watching a show until about 10pm and I got fed up with myself being lazy and forced myself to get OFF the couch and finish my workout for the day.

The whole week has been a struggle to motivate myself to work out. But i find it interesting at the same time to know what motivates me. Now, more than ever, I know i need the constant support of my accountability partners to keep me on track. I'm proud of myself for completing the workouts and hitting my calorie burn this week w/out their help - because in the end, we DO have to rely on ourselves to meet our goals.

But I have to recommend something, because i realized JUST how helpful it can be this week - find someone who will be on your team! It could be someone who has similar goals to you - whether it's to lose weight, gain muscle, look good in a two piece, run a marathon - whatever. Or it could be someone who inspires you because of their commitment. I sort of "cheat" and have several accountability partners. People who can relate to what i'm going through - but we are all on different paths in terms of our goals. It just so happened that this week - all of them were out of town! I'll have to ask them to rearrange their schedules and work around my health needs next time ;)

And do yourself a favor - believe me on this. Find someone who really truly is in this to win this. It does you NO good to have an accountability partner who will constantly listen/put up with your excuses, or someone who is always giving you excuses about not showing up, not eating right or sticking to the plan. Sure - we all mess up because um, we are human. But choose your partner/team carefully and make sure that you surround yourself with people who can cheer you on, cheer you up, tell you the truth, push you when you are done, and listen to you when you just need to talk it out before you work it out.

This means that maybe it's not your spouse, boyfriend, roommate or best friend who can be your accountability partner. Because sometimes we are TOO comfortable with these people and you let each other off the hook too easily. Or maybe these people are perfect for you because they know you so well and can call you on your bullcrap when no one else will. I can't tell you who to pick - but you have to find someone who creates a positive environment for themselves already - someone who is just as passionate about their goals as you are yours.

One great way to do this is by finding something that you love to do - and then get to know the people who are showing up for the same things! Chances are, you might already have a lot in common. So next time you go for a walk in your neighborhood - pay attention to who you always see. Or perhaps you are a treadmill rat - if you are like me, i'm a creature of habit so i always go to the same one. Or if you love group exercise, it's easy to spot the regulars (they are the ones who give you a weird look if you are in their spot - or is that just me?)

As usual - this whole thing is a journey and i'm still learning "stuff" about myself in this process. I always thought i was pretty independent, but apparently a little bit of support goes a long way for me. Another lesson learned is to mentally prepare for when i know i'm going to "be on my own" so i don't slack off. It's hard to stay on track for even the strongest and most dedicated person, but as i said last week ANY time spent on you is better than zero time. So make every moment count (and then find a partner who won't leave you hanging on that high five after you workout).