Why most fitness programs fail.

Why do most weight loss plans fail? There are many reasons people do not achieve fitness and most of them are due to poorly defined goals. When creating a fitness goal you must consider the timeline. Weight loss goals for example need to be achievable and sustainable. People who lose weight too fast never seem to keep it off. Four to ten pounds a month is the most you should shoot for depending on how much you have to lose total.

A large goal needs to have smaller sub goals and milestones that need to be celebrated. Let’s say you have a goal of losing seventy pounds by your twenty- year high school reunion ten months away.  The logical way to break down the weight loss is seven pounds a month, but it would be more realistic to do more the first few months and less toward the end. It is harder to lose weight when you get closer to your target because there is less to lose.

The next key is inspirational help. If you have a picture of yourself at your intended goal weight, place it on you fridge or pantry. This will help you in the weak moments when you decide to cheat. If you do not have the picture of yourself to use, Photoshop one. You should also have a wallet size photo to carry with you for weak moments away from home.

Another important piece of the puzzle is your support group. If you have family eating cookies around you every night it makes things much harder. Have the conversation with your friends and family and ask them to pledge not to sabotage you. As much as people love you they may subconsciously not want you to succeed and make them look bad: misery loves company. It would be ideal to get them to commit to the plan. It is easier to work as a team.

Track your food intake and what type of food you are eating. Also track your workouts, you can pick up a $13 to $20 training log, or you can get a home exercise machine that tracks your cardio workouts for you. Remember what we track we get better at!

The very last thing to remember is to limit your failures. You will fall off the wagon one day. Nobody is perfect. The key is to minimize the damage to one meal or at most one day. If you make a mistake add an extra cardio or strength workout to your week and don’t beat yourself up mentally.