Accountability

At one point in time I weighed 293 pounds. It was right around the time that my second set of twins, Teddy and Anthony, were being baptized. I looked at an overweight priest and thought to myself, “He doesn’t look healthy.” When reviewing the photos online of him holding Anthony and me holding Teddy, I realized that he and I looked as much like twins as Anthony and Teddy did. That is, we both looked unhealthy.

I lost 64 pounds that year. I know, that is a lot. I often wonder how I did that and how I can bottle that process and sell it to America. The magic, I assure you was none other than hard work and discipline. Part of that hard work and discipline was the accountability that I had set up for this work. I often think I didn’t properly thank all the people in my life that had my back (or was it my front??) during that time.

I engaged my wife and my kids. My wife had to make sure that I was going to do what I said I was going to do (see commitment blog) and then I empowered her to push back on me if I was out of line. My kids were less actual accountability partners, rather motivational accountability partners. The thought of them living without a father was some great accountability to the hard work and discipline that it took to lose 64 pounds. I would be remiss if I didn’t include my peers. I have about 5-6 guys that were rooting for me. They were rooting for me to lose the weight because I told them it was important to me. Knowing that they would be asking and checking in with me to see how my meals went, how my workouts were going, and how much beer I was drinking was a vital piece to my actions. I knew that if I missed a deadline that I was also letting them down. They were investing time and energy into my plan.

It is crazy that we can sometimes be more accountable to others than we can be to ourselves. However, that is how it worked out in this situation. I am working on being more accountable to myself know. About that 64 pounds. Well some of it has come back and I know that I need to be accountable to living a healthy lifestyle. I just need to engage myself and my partners in this journey. Based on my previous experience, I know I can do it, and with a little help and push from others, I can be accountable for my own health and well-being.