Reaching Your Fitness Goals and Sticking to Them

As we ring in the New Year many people will be focused on leading a healthier lifestyle.  It is awesome to set goals and work toward them with the new beginning and fresh start that the New Year brings.  Perhaps one of the most popular goals people aspire to accomplish within the year pertains to health and fitness.  Setting fitness goals and most importantly, sticking to them, can be a very trying process.  Here are some tips to help make it a satisfying experience.

Set Realistic Goals

It is great to be ambitious and to have high expectations for yourself, but when it comes to beginning a fitness routine it is best to start small and be realistic.  Determine what is most important to you.  Ask yourself, “What is a reasonable amount of weight to lose?  How many steps can I realistically walk in an average day?”  Make sure that your goal is actually attainable, otherwise you are just setting yourself up for failure from the start.  

Be Consistent

Once you have developed clear goals, it is important to remain consistent.  It will be easier to do this if you start out with small, gradual changes to your daily routine.  Making big changes all at one time may be overwhelming.  Figure out what works for you through trial and error.  If one method isn’t working, just try something else, don’t give up your routine.

Be Understanding

Remember that you are not going to see change overnight.  Changes take time and will most often not be immediately noticeable.  Cut yourself some slack.  Allow some “cheat” items or days.  It is important to remain consistent, but don’t be too hard on yourself when you have slip ups.  Especially don’t let those slip ups deter your whole process.  If you don’t eat well one day or don’t exercise, don’t let that make you feel like a failure and most importantly, don’t give up!  That one day is not going to make the difference between you achieving your goal or not, it’s just one day. Keep pushing!

Be Accountable

Leading a healthy lifestyle is a commitment so find ways to hold yourself accountable.  Join a support group for weight loss or fitness, create a small group with friends who have similar goals, or download a fitness tracking app.  My Fitness Pal is one of my favorites.  It is free and logs activity, calories burned and calorie intake for the day.  It can also sync with FitBit or other activity trackers so you don’t have to manually enter physical activity.

Celebrate

Be proud of yourself and the work that you’ve done!  Celebrate achievements both big and small because every bit of progress is bringing you that much closer to achieving your goal.  Set up an award system for accomplishments or milestones.  Awards are a great way to treat yourself for all of the hard work you’re putting in and it may also keep you motivated! Just try not to sabotage your achievements by getting off track. Some healthy ways to celebrate include: a massage, a mani/pedi or day at the spa, new shoes or a small dessert.

Celebrate your victories and don’t sweat the small stuff.  You can do this!