Weight loss success comes down to having a system to hold you accountable. Here’s a few simple ways to create self accountability yourself.

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Here’s a little secret:

You could go through the countless articles on this site, read and absorb the information, follow it to the letter, and get into the best shape of your life.

But you haven’t yet.

Be honest with yourself:

Have you committed to some of the knowledge bombs that I drop here on the regular?

Probably not.

Because you’re still here.

Now, this is not to shame you.

Instead, it’s meant to underscore just how hard this fat loss thing can be for someone trying to make it work.

The most important thing that I do for all of my Lean4Life Academy members is not creating some fantastic workout program. It’s not nailing an unbeatable nutritional profile.

Nope. That’s the easy stuff.

The most important thing I do is hold my L4L members accountable.

I help keep them consistent with those workout and nutrition programs.

But the stuff I do with my clients is not unlike the many strategies that I provide in articles like this, this and this.

Today, we’re going to talk about accountability. Why you need to create self accountability into your plan and your life in order to finally achieve the progress that you’ve been hoping to see.

And I’ll show you how to simplify that accountability piece so you can crush it.

Let’s get into it.

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“Pete, I’m tired of eating egg whites and oatmeal all day. Can you give me some ideas of what to eat for fat loss?”

It’s a common question.

And in general, if you follow some of the guidelines that I lay out in this article, you’ll be fine.

Because I do not do meal plans.

I’m never going to tell you or even my clients, exactly what to eat every day.

Instead, it’s up to you to build the structure into your plan and fill in the blanks with the foods that you’d like to eat within that structure.

To get there, I typically recommend a simple way to create the structure.

The 3×3 Method of creating your own meal plan

Pick three of the following:

• Proteins
• Carbs
• Veggies

Build meals based off of those options and create a bit of a rotation. Then slowly expand from there.

With this method, you are the one creating your own fat loss friendly foods and meals.

No one is telling you what to eat with a rigid meal plan.

Which is one of the biggest rules to accountability: you need to somewhat enjoy the process so you can stick to it.

This is how you start to create self accountability.

But having your own menu might not be enough to see it through to your goals.

For that, we need a bit more to make it work.

While having an accountability partner can be incredibly helpful, sometimes your husband just isn’t ready to commit. Or that roommate simply is not on the same page.

It happens.

And when it does happen, you must have more layers of accountability at your disposal.

This requires doing some deep work. On yourself.

You are the best judge of how you can perform within the structure of the plan you create.

Sure, that 3×3 Method works for building out some easy meals to help.

But, those meals don’t stop you from having random cravings for sweets for instance.

In this case, you might fall somewhere in the following camps:

You can avoid the sweets altogether, even if they are present and in the house, by doubling down on the willpower to not eat them.

This approach is the most difficult if you battle cravings, yet still have them around. Which is common for busy parents that need snacks for kids.

As you can imagine, it can be quite restrictive. And in many cases, lead to a binge episode down the road.

You can eliminate the trigger food from the house altogether.

I covered this one in my guide to cleaning up your food environment. If possible, you might need to just remove trigger foods from your house.

If that’s not possible, at least try to get them out of your general eyesight. Move these foods to higher cabinet shelves or hidden underneath other things.

Yes, the out of sight, out of mind approach really does work here.

You can have a healthy balance, know the sweets are there and enjoy them in moderation.

A marriage of the previous two. And probably the most desirable end goal for just about every one.

If you understand that weight loss can happen even while enjoying fun foods in moderation, that is how you win.

But until you get to that level of awareness, you might need to fall into one of the first two camps to create self accountability before evolving or graduating to that final step.

Everyone is different. Which is why it is important to create self accountability for yourself.

At the end of the day, you are the one in control.

Even if you hire me as your rockstar coach, I cannot show up to your home every day and keep food from entering your face hole.

You and only you have the agency and control to do that.

So you’ll need to check in with yourself before you get started on a new goal or desire to change over into a new habit.

• Why are you actually trying to make this change?
• What is your motivation for doing it?
• How sustainable is your plan to achieve this goal?
• What happens when your support network crashes and your motivation to eat another salad wanes and fades away? (Hint: you won’t be motivated all of the time).
• Do you actually give a shit about this goal? If you do … how many fucks do you actually give right now?

In regards to that last question, maybe you discover that it is simply not worth your time to pursue this goal right now.

No worries.

When you’re ready, you’ll be more dedicated to holding yourself accountable.

Because even if you hire me, or any other coach, you are still the one doing the work.

So until you are ready to create self accountability for yourself, you’ll lack the full accountability to see it through to crush that goal.

Let me help you learn to create self accountability … 

I’m here to help you out. 

If you have any questions, reach out. I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “Create self accountability” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Or you can hit me up anytime on the socialz on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

If you enjoyed this post, maybe you’d like more knowledge bombs from me. I’d be honored if you join my mailing list to get regular updates every time I post something pretty dope.