I've struggled up and down with my weight my whole life, mostly up. Until about ummm.... the age of 47. (I'm 47) I've been on this transformational path since I started practicing 7th Path Self-Hypnosis(R) in 2004. Now there's a story....for another time. I recently discovered a way for me to be accountable and stay focused on exercise.

I really do eat well most of the time. I drink plenty of water. Consistent physical activity seems to always be the one thing that keeps me plateauing with my weight loss. A friend of mine recently starting talking about doing a 3day Breast Cancer walk. Ya, you read that right, 3 days! She caught my interest and excitedly said I should join her. Now, I will admit she did have me convinced to join her....for about as long as it took for me to imagine the horrors of walking 20 miles three days in a row on swollen blistered feet and sleeping in a tent on a cot for the two nights in between. Um...No! I decided to give to a good cause and campaign for her instead. But she did have me thinking. I told her I wanted to do something shorter before I committed to a 60 miles walk. So we signed up for a 5k breast cancer fundraiser in Detroit.

I've often fantasized about running a marathon. I mean, after all Oprah did it! Ok, so maybe a half marathon. I got excited about getting ready for the 5k. I enjoy walking, I live in lovely neighborhood with rolling hills that I enjoy strolling about with my dog Tucker, and I could easily convert that into a training route to get ready for the event. At first I did what I always did. Trained half heartedly, skipping days. But when the realization sunk in, that if I continued to do what I always did, I was going to get what I always got, I didn't want to make excuses, so I got busy.

I clipped a red marker to my calendar and marked a large W on the bottom of each day that i walked. Every time I opened my appointment book I could consciously and subconsciously see where I was at in my training. My goal was to walk my training route of at least 4 days a week. And I was doing it! Once I committed to the 5k I had to be accountable to be prepared. No way was I going to disappoint my friend or humiliate myself by not being prepared for the event.

The day of the event was awesome. I had never been to anything like it before. There were thousands of people there! All coming together with a common goal to cure breast cancer. It was such a high to cross that finish line. As soon as I got home I looked for another to sign up for. I was hooked! After all I need some more accountability! Right before the Convention I rerouted my training and added another mile to it. I now am walking 4 miles four plus days a week and enjoying it.