No matter what your starting point is, it can be difficult to reach the fitness goals you have set out for yourself. Oftentimes, we look at others and say: “If only I was at that point already, then things would be easy!” However, let’s be honest: It’s not ever “easy” for anyone.
We all have our own challenges that we have to overcome and, as we progress towards one goal, we’ll hopefully be setting new ones so that we can continue to push ourselves and grow as individuals. If your goals are “easy”, you aren’t setting real goals for yourself. Now, this isn’t to say that you should go crazy and set an extremely difficult goal that you’ll ultimately get discouraged trying to reach, but you should know where your limit is and try to push just a bit further past it. That’s how you get stronger and build character, and endurance.
Of course, no matter how close you may be to your goals, you may find yourself getting a bit discouraged. If that’s the case, try one of these 5 tips.
#1 Evaluate Your Goal
The best way to get yourself moving and stay on track is to evaluate the goal you have laid out for yourself. Detail the goal and set it into stone. Set a realistic deadline for yourself and break it down to determine what you need to do each and every day in order to meet your goal.
For instance, if you say you want to lose 10 pounds, when will you do that by? Giving yourself 8-10 weeks to meet that goal is realistic but it will still make you be challenged to stay on track with your nutrition and exercise habits.
#2 Break It Down
Just saying that you’re going to lose 10 pounds in the next 8-10 weeks isn’t good enough. If you don’t get specific and break the goal down, those weeks are going to fly by before you know it and you likely won’t have met your goal.
Instead, you need to think about what you need to do on a daily basis so that you can go to bed each night knowing you are moving one day closer to your goal successfully.
#3 Set Mini Goals
Weekly weigh ins will help keep you accountable on the journey towards your goal. Do the math and figure out where you need to be at each week to be on track towards your goal of losing 10 pounds. Obviously, weight loss isn’t linear and you should expect some fluctuations, but as long as you’re in a downward trend, you’re probably doing tings correctly.
#4 Track Your Progress
Many people who get motivated to start on a journey towards their fitness goals are doing so because they aren’t happy with how they look and feel right now. That’s a great reason to take action and change things for your own happiness and wellbeing, however, you have to track your progress.
Sometimes, people hate the camera so much that they don’t take “before” pictures until they are weeks into the journey. At that point, they have made tremendous progress but they don’t have anything to compare it to. This can be demotivating because you’ll feel like you’ve put in so much work but you can’t feel the difference yet.
For this reason, you should take measurements and photos from day one so you can track your progress as you make it.
#5 Make Small Changes
This is a big tip that many people completely overlook. When that initial motivation hits you, it’s easy to go cold turkey, but for most, that only lasts for so long. Motivation will get you going, but it’s healthy habits that will keep you going for the long haul.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if you successfully go on a 2 day diet, a 2 week diet, or even a 2 month diet. If you change things back, your body is going to change back too. That’s why you need to focus on making small changes in your daily routine so that you can alter your habits and, thus, alter your lifestyle over time.
For instance, you might give up smoking and try vaping instead. This is a change that can make a huge difference for your health. Overtime, you can transition to vaping to help stop your bad habit of smoking.
This is just one example of how making a small change can really add up in the long run. At the same time, you might start walking the stairs instead of taking the elevator or going for a brisk morning walk rather than chugging two cups of coffee. Making these small changes will make a huge difference in the long run. Don’t underestimate just how powerful it can be!
