How To Make Your Fitness Resolutions Work This Time

By Adrienne Vose, Owner

Move More Fitness

. http://www.movemorefitness.com/

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How To Make Your Fitness Resolutions Work This Time

Are you making the same resolution year after year? How do you break that cycle and make it actually happen this time?

Here are a few tips to help turn that corner in your mindset toward health and fitness and actually meet your goals rather than feeling discouraged and giving up.

Be Realistic Start out with realistic goals. Do you want to lose 50 pounds? That can happen, but don't expect it to happen by summer. Find out what is a healthy, realistic weight for your body type and work toward it slowly and steadily.

Start Small Give yourself small goals to start. Have an overall goal for the year but make small goals along the way so you don't lose sight. You can't go from never working out to working out five times a week – you'll burn out. Maybe start with exercising twice a week and then up it to three times in February.

Ask for Help You don't have to know everything and there's no reason to do this alone. You can often get free first-time consultations with trainers, nutritionists, or specialists to help you figure out how to get started.

Change Everyday Habits It's the small things that will make or break your fitness goals. Do you get a mocha every day on your way to work? Cut it down to just a few times a week. Keep healthy snacks available at home or in the office.

Plan and Re-plan You have to stay organized and re-organized every week, maybe even every day, to achieve fitness goals. Make it a point regularly to plan when you will exercise. Plan out your meals for the week so you don't find yourself stuck with unhealthy choices. Cheat meals are fine, but plan them, don't just let them happen sporadically.

Make Checkpoints A year long goal is doomed if it doesn't have small checkpoints along the way. Reevaluate your progress throughout the year. Keep track of your progress. You'll fend off discouragement better when you have documentation of how far you've come, rather than always looking at how far you have to go. Keep track of the little victories so that you can remind yourself that you are, in fact, making progress.

Stay Accountable Figure out something that will motivate you to stay accountable a friend, a trainer, a family member, or get creative. If you are competitive, find a buddy and make it a contest. Again, if you find you aren't making progress, don't get discouraged – find out why and push past it. Stay with it and don't let yourself quit.