Tips to help you stick with your fitness resolution
Determine what motivates you?
Is your doctors recommendation that you eat right and exercise enough to get you fired up to exercise? Probably not. Everyone has different motivations. Maybe you want to get in shape so that you can play soccer with your son? Perhaps you want to look great at your wedding or even your great granddaughters wedding this spring? Maybe you have a hiking trip planned and you want to be conditioned? Whatever it is that you want to do, you need to establish a link between what motivates you and your exercise program. There will be days when you just don't want to go through your workout. The motivating factors you decide on today will be ready made answers to the inevitable question; "why do I have to exercise today?"
Set specific goals.
The desire to get into shape is a common goal that means different things to different people. For one person it may mean looking great in a party dress, while to another it means completing the Iron Man triathlon. Maybe you want to lose body fat. How much and by when? You want to be stronger. How much do you want to be able to bench press? Setting goals help make the prize of getting into "shape" more realistic to your mind.
Get the right program.
Having goals and being motivated are not enough. Maybe you know someone who has decided to get in shape in the past. They were motivated and they went to the gym everyday for months, but things just did not seems to workout as well as they had hoped. Maybe that someone is you. Truth is without the right exercise program it is very easy to reach a plateau very quickly where you put in a great deal of effort, but just don't see the rewards. The right exercise program ensure that you see visible results for your efforts.
Make your self accountable by telling people about your commitment to fitness.
Particularly tell the people whom you have the greatest respect for. Sometimes decisions come down to a balance of pain vs. pleasure. Not following through on something you told lots of people close to you that you had committed to would be a source of pain for most people. On the flip side, following through and generating great results while gaining positive feedback from the people you respect will make you feel great.
Use visualization.
This is an excellent tool to help you reach any goal you have in your life. If your goal is to become physically fit and stick with your exercise program, it works just like this. Ask your self, how you will feel about yourself if you stick with this program for the next 4 weeks? How will you feel about yourself if you reach the end of the next 4 weeks, but have already given up? How will you look and feel after 6 months of the right exercise program? Take the time and really think about these questions and make the visualizations as real as possible to your mind. Ask your self how you will feel after 5 years of committing to a healthy lifestyle? Now ask yourself how you would expect to look and feel 10 years from now if you decide to give up on your exercise program? Lastly, picture yourself in your old age sitting in your rocking chair thinking back over your life. Do you want to recall your commitment to a healthy lifestyle that enriched your life and enabled you with the power and energy to do the things you wanted to do and be there for the people whom are most important to you. Or do you want to sit back in that chair and say "I wish I had..." or "I could've, should've...." The answer seems pretty clear doesn't it.
Set realistic goals
If you have not been exercising, is it reasonable to set a goal of exercising for an hour a day, 5 days a week. Probably not. Integrate the changes you want to make into your lifestyle, don't change your entire lifestyle to adapt to the changes. I've known people who have tried to change their entire diet and exercise program all at once only to quit after less than 4 weeks, because "it was too complicated" or "I just don't have the time to exercise." Set yourself up to succeed. Pick the one or two changes that will have the greatest impact on your health and integrate them into your lifestyle. If you are just starting out, start by exercising 3 times per week for a 1/2 hour. Maybe you eat fast food everyday for lunch. Step one is to cut out the fried products and select healthier items like the grilled chicken sandwich and a side salad instead of the burger and fries. Once you accomplish those goals for a week or two, chose another small goal and integrate that healthy choice into your life style.
These tips can really help anyone who has made a commitment to fitness and wants to generate results that last.