Accountability

In the January issue of O magazine, Oprah Winfrey says she is once again struggling with her weight and has just tipped the scales at 200 pounds. “I’m embarrassed,” said Oprah. “I’m mad at myself. I can’t believe that after all these years, all the things I know how to do, I’m still talking about my weight.” I look at my thinner self and think, ‘How did I let this happen again”. I have an answer to that question for Oprah and for millions of other women like her who have struggled with yo-yo dieting and weight re-gain.

Oprah says that she’s put on 40 pounds since 2006, when she weighed 160. She says she reached rock bottom when she wanted to skip out of a taping with Tina Turner and Cher in Las Vegas earlier this year: “I felt like a fat cow,” wrote Winfrey, “I wanted to disappear.”

In the article, Oprah spoke of her recent struggles with thyroid problems and how that led her to a “fear of working out.” She also says that she took herself off her own priority list.

I’ve seen this story all over TV, tabloid covers and the internet, but I see a lot of people reveling in her failure and not offering any advice. Today I would like to change that.

Obviously Oprah has had no shortage of advisors. She’s got a whole entourage of experts including a personal trainer, Bob Greene. Not to mention a whole parade of guests over the years who specialize in health, fitness and weight loss.

By now, Oprah is arguably a weight loss expert in her own right.

Why does Oprah know what do, but can’t get herself to do it?

I have a solution for Oprah, and it will also work for the millions of other women who have struggled with “yo-yo” dieting. The frustrating cycles of weight loss and weight re-gain. This is important because research has shown that weight cycling is far more damaging and unhealthy than being overweight itself. Yes, it’s true.

After 12 years as a fitness consultant, I’ve discovered that there is something more important than what diet you follow, what exercises you select, what philosophy you subscribe to (Pilates, Yoga, etc.) or what training program you follow. The real difference making is what makes you follow through! It’s the doing that is one of the most important steps for must, not the “what to do”.

If I were Oprah’s fitness consultant, I would offer many suggestions, but one place I would start is with accountability. I’ve found over the years, that accountability is truly the key to health, fitness and weight loss success. Heck, it’s the key to career, business or any goal you want to achieve.

Oprah’s situation is somewhat unique to other people. Although it appears that Oprah is accountable to others, with her team of personal trainers and health experts, when someone becomes so successful that no one in her social or business circle is really “above her,” it makes you wonder if she has ever really been held to her fitness goals, promises and commitments.

Her friends and advisors may have provided her with all the information she needed, but they also may have let her off the hook because she’s “THE OPRAH.”

The solution: Oprah must first take personal responsibility and makes a commitment to be accountable to herself. Then, she must become accountable to others, but given her social and business stature, she needs to be accountable to something that drives her the most.

Maybe that person is NOT her trainer or nutritionist! Maybe the solution is right in front of her – literally. Her fans and audience!

If Oprah’s desires get her body back, my advice to her would begin with immediately announcing her PERSONAL FITNESS And WEIGHT LOSS MISSION to her readers, viewers and listeners. She must ask them all to hold her accountable.

She needs to tell her audience and fans NOT to let her off the hook and her fans need to play their part and agree that they WON’T let her off the hook. She’s got to weigh-in on national TV and put the results on her website and in her magazine. She needs to keep a nutrition and fitness journal and publish it with her progress photos, for the entire world to see.

She also needs to acknowledge that her real mission begins AFTER she reaches her healthy weight goal when her lifelong maintenance phase begins.

There must be consequences if she falls off the wagon. I’m not sure what all of them would be, but for one, her fans have got to not only support her, but GIVE HER HECK if she doesn’t follow through!

Oprah can feature the “next big expert” or “the latest diet” and think this will be her next solution or her fans next solution. Only Oprah’s actions and results will make a change in her life. The solution starts with her and then her team of experts can help her. With her personal commitment and with her friends and fans helping to hold her to it, she will have all the motivational leverage she needs.

This is the key to our clients being successful. We start by helping establish a Fitness Mission (AKA Goals) in an Introductory Session and Consultation . Once we have the goals set, we do an initial fitness assessment to get measures to track our progress and then we establish a plan to get to the goals we’ve established.

The key to making this all work, just like Oprah is holding them accountable by have scheduled appointments, fitness assessments to measure their progress, following up on recommendations we give them, Accountability Journals for tracking nutrition and outside the studio exercise and many more techniques centered around the accountability factor.

For most our clients this accountability is enough, but if for some reason you are like Oprah and need extra accountability I encourage you to find a way to “publicly” announce what you would like to accomplish.

If you are already a current client, this is where I’m holding you accountable. If you are not getting to the studio as frequently as you should, avoiding a fitness assessment or not utilizing an Accountability Journal, it’s time to get back on track. It’s time to ask your Fitness Consultant to step up the accountability (trust me, they’ll enjoy hearing this!) and for you to find that extra leverage outside the studio. Ask your Fitness Consultant today to help you brainstorm and find this outside leverage.

In good health,
Pete Piranio BS, CSCS
Owner/Fitness Consultant
Fitness Together
www.FitnessTogether.net


P.S. If you want a clear plan and accountability of our fitness consultants request a Introductory Session and Consultation to see if we can help.