Whoever came up with exercise must have enjoyed making people miserable. It’s difficult, exhausting, and requires a lot of practice to start seeing improvements. While some sports-minded people love being active, there are also plenty of dieters who simply use exercise as a way to shed the pounds. For those in the latter category, motivation is often difficult to maintain. That’s why these tricks have proved useful for helping them stick to their fitness goals.
Be realistic with your goals
There’s no point telling yourself you’re going to lose ten lbs in a month when you know you don’t have the motivation to achieve that goal. You’re far better off being more lenient with yourself - ten lbs in ten weeks, for instance - and taking a more relaxed approach to fitness. Losing weight requires patience, and if you set your expectations too high, you’ll never stay on track with your goals.
Praise your hard work
Some people seem to think that treating themselves when they’re on a diet is a one-way street to falling off the wagon. While that’s not true, you should certainly only treat yourself in moderation. Don’t praise yourself just because you went to the gym, and don’t give yourself something that will undo your hard work. However, be sure to have a treat when you deserve it because it’ll give more purpose to what you’re doing.
Do something every day
You don’t have to go to the gym every day if you want to reach your fitness goals. All that will do is make you miserable and probably cause an injury. Instead, you should do several big workouts a week, and use the other days to do small but meaningful activities. You won’t be drained from all the exercise, and you’ll still be making progress towards your goals.
Get others involved
You should never rely on another person when you set a fitness goal. Otherwise, if they end up getting bored and giving up, you might follow suit. However, it’s good to involve other people in your ambitions. They can help when your motivation drops and ensure you don’t give in to temptation when the mood strikes.
Don’t push yourself too hard
Go hard or go home… unless you actually want to stick to your goal. Whoever said you have to push yourself hard to lose weight clearly didn’t understand how motivation works. While you have to put in effort while exercising to feel its effects, you don’t need to drive yourself to the point of passing out. That’ll just make you give up quicker.
Change your goal whenever necessary
If you set your fitness goal as a New Year’s resolution, it’s likely you’ll feel differently about it six months down the line. If you’ve kept to it for that long, you’ve obviously made significant improvements to your life which you now need to accommodate. Don’t feel like you can’t make changes when the need arises. Your goals weren’t set in stone, after all.
Sticking to fitness goals is far from easy, but if you approach them in the right way, staying motivated shouldn’t be difficult.
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