Simple Steps to Weight Loss and Health Goals

Don’t wait for another year to roll around to set and begin reaching your health goals. Whether you want to stop smoking, lose 20 pounds, reduce stress, or finish a marathon, you can reach your goals no matter how difficult the challenge may seem.

Change may be a little tough at first. However, with determination, perseverance, the right support, and these great tips, you can successfully reach your health goals in 2018 and beyond!

Stay Motivated and Inspired

Regardless of your health goals, it’s important to remember your motivation and get inspired to achieve results. Why? Because improving your health without motivation and inspiration can be a tough challenge to tackle.

The key is to survey your life and discover something that will drive you to keep going and succeed. Think about the day you set your health goal. Do you remember why you decided to embark on this journey? Was it a specific event? How did you feel? Sometimes, reflecting is the best way to get inspired, motivated, and move forward.

If you’re struggling to maintain your motivation, it’s okay to turn to outside sources for motivation and support as well. A lot of people find motivation simply by thinking about their family. Do you want to see your grandchildren grow up? Do you want to be there for your significant other in his or her older years?

You can even draw inspiration from complete strangers. Triathlete Scott Rigsby is one of the most motivating and inspiring health stories ever. Despite having a prosthetic leg, he not only completed but won the 2007 Ironman World Championship. If he can swim, bike, and run for miles on end faster than the best athletes in the world, you can reach any goals you set!

Take Baby Steps

Slow and steady wins the race. It may sound cliché, but it’s completely true. If you want to make a major lifestyle change, such as losing 50 pounds, start small rather than going all in at once.  

When it comes to your diet, don’t overhaul everything on day one. It’s best to cut unhealthy foods gradually. For instance, begin by replacing one of your gut-busting guilty pleasures like ice cream or cookies with something a little healthier like your favorite fruit. If you drink coffee, start by adding less cream and sugar each day. Then, after your mind and body adjust, you can go from there.

In terms of exercise, the same rules apply. Rather than jumping right in and exercising intensely every single day, start by stretching in the morning or going for an after-dinner walk each day. When you begin feeling comfortable and have the routine down pat, then you can gradually extend each session, add another type of exercise to the mix, and push yourself little by little.

Be Realistic

Telling yourself you’re going to lose an eye-popping amount of weight or swim across the English Channel may sound great and provide a boost of inspiration at first, but setting unattainable goals and planning unrealistic lifestyle changes like these can easily become wishful thinking. If you want to reach your health goals, it’s important to separate fiction from reality.

Rather than telling yourself, you’re going to lose 100 pounds and fit into your high school jeans once again, set a more realistic goal, such as losing 10 pounds or being able to swim for five minutes without stopping. The more realistic a goal is, the more likely you are to reach it. Just remember to place a timeline on each tangible goal you set. Doing so will allow you to track your progress and stay motivated.

Work on One Goal at a Time

You may have a larger, long-term goal, but as you now know, you need to set several smaller goals in order to reach it. That being said, this doesn’t mean you should go crazy with your goal setting. In fact, you should strive to set one small attainable goal each week. When you reach one, set another and only work on reaching one small goal at a time. Reward yourself with each small goal you reach and you’ll succeed in reaching your end goal in no time at all. I recommend that you break your goals down starting with 5 years, then 1 year, then monthly, then weekly and daily. Writing down ours goals increases our chances of us achieving them.

Stick to a Routine

People are creatures of habit, so make it a point to incorporate exercise and healthy eating into your daily routine. Changing up your routine may be challenging at first, but after a month or two, your mind and body will actually begin to crave the new foods and activities it has become accustomed to. In no time at all, your new routine will turn into a permanent lifestyle change and allow you to not only reach but maintain your health goals.

Mix It Up

Routines are powerful and important, but it’s also important to mix things up from time to time. Maybe you’re getting a little bored with your exercise routine, or perhaps your taste buds are craving something a little different than the same healthy lunch you’ve diligently been eating every day for the past month. If this is the case, don’t be afraid to mix up your routine with a tasty new recipe or another form of exercise from time to time. In fact, it is recommended to change up your work out routine every 4 weeks when doing weight training so you can continue to grow your strength.

Stay Positive

It’s easy to get down in the dumps and be a little negative, especially if you’re overweight or lack self-esteem. However, remember that reaching your health goals is a process, and it’s important to stay positive in order to remain motivated and see the process through.

The truth is you should feel great about yourself for choosing to make positive lifestyle changes and improve your health. You should love yourself and embrace the power of positive thinking. By thinking positive thoughts, you will take positive action.

Be Accountable

Without accountability, it’s impossible to change your habits and reach your short or long-term health goals. After all, excuses are a dime a dozen, making it all too easy to fall back into old habits. Fortunately, there are several ways to boost your accountability. From journaling and smartphone apps to friends, family, and health coaches, there’s a variety of options available to give you the kick in the rear you need when you need it most. I recommend finding an accountability coach, there are many different forms of this from person to person to online coaches to help hold you accountable. If you are looking for an Online Accountability Coach Contact me Today.

Keep a Journal

Writing down your goals and progress is a terrific way of staying motivated and on track. Not only does it serve to strengthen your commitment, but it also allows you to look back and reflect on the progress you’ve made. This will help motivate you to keep going. Keeping a food journal is also very important, this helps you be more aware of what we are putting in our bodies, My Fitness Pal is a great app you can keep on your phone as your food journal. This app also can help you achieve your weight loss goal by keeping track of your daily calorie in taking.

Seek Support

There’s no need to go at it alone. By finding like-minded people with the same goals and striving to reach them together, you’ll receive the accountability and support you need to achieve success.

Fortunately, there are plenty of places to find people to help support you through the process. From friends, family, and social media to co-workers, support groups, and exercise classes, a helping hand and friendly support is only an arm’s length away.

Share Your Goals and Successes with Others

Speaking of staying positive, sharing your goals and successes with others can do wonders for your mindset and provide you with the encouragement you need to keep up the good work. Whether it’s with your family and friends or on social media, sharing your progress is an excellent way of receiving positive feedback and reinforcement. When you share your goals with others, you’ll also hold yourself more accountable and increase your likelihood of seeing your goals through to the end.

Be Patient and Persistent

This isn’t the “Matrix”. There’s no red or blue pill to provide you with instant results overnight. Change is tough, and improving your health is a process. It takes time.

Throughout the process, you’re bound to give in to temptation from time to time. It’s natural. However, it doesn’t mean you should resume making your guilty pleasure a part of your regular diet once again. Instead, you need to use the slip up as a learning experience and figure out how to keep it from happening again and again.

If you get off course, find your compass and get back on track. You may have given in to your favorite ice cream on Wednesday night, but you need to stay patient, persistent, and get back in the game the next day. It’s that simple.

Reward Yourself

When you reach one of your health goals, you should reward yourself by doing something you enjoy. Go to the beach, see a movie, buy a new pair of jeans, or do anything else that you like or makes you feel good. Maybe you should set your reward before you achieve the goal, to use the reward as motivation to achieve that goal.

Take It One Day at a Time

Forever is literally an eternity. Rather than thinking too far ahead, stay in the present and take it one day and one step at a time. By doing so, you can make reaching your health goals a fun run, not a grueling marathon.

Well, there you have it. Whether you want to lose weight, lower your blood pressure, or compete in a triathlon, these tips and the right mindset are all you need to reach your health goals and begin experiencing a fitter, healthier you!