Tips To Achieve Ambitious Fitness Goals

I may be the first one to break this to you, but contrary to popular belief, habits do not take 21 days to form! Yes, the latest a greatest fitness program or weight loss program might lead you to believe this just to get the product sold. But, tell me when you gave something 21 days and then boom, magic happened, you were all of a sudden a brand new person with new habits? Nope, doesn't happen that easily. In fact, the time it takes to create a new habit varies greatly from person to person and can take up to 60 days, and possibly more! The process to changing habits takes time and requires consistent implementation and coaching. When I meet with clients for an initial meeting it's common for them to set some pretty ambitious goals. Such as losing 20-60 pounds, gaining lean muscle definition, lowering blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk etc. These goals are great ones to have, but the problem is that they can also be very overwhelming. How does one achieve these ambitious fitness goals? I'm about to tell you, so listen up my friends! First, I like to to chunk it down into smaller, less daunting, more realistic outcomes. For example, instead of focusing on losing 50 pounds, a good first milestone is to lose 5 pounds in the first month. You may be thinking, "5lbs in one month, that's not very much, Coach Curly." But hey, 5lbs is 5lbs and it's closer to that 50lbs now isn't it? The goal here is to do something that you can do long term, rather than giving up after a month in because you starved yourself and are now low on energy and can't even keep your eyes open to do anything. Plus, Seeing the scale drop 5lbs is motivating, if you ask me, and typically gives a person the ambition to keep going! Secondly, I advise my clients to pick a goal oriented behavior that's going to help them to reach their big goal. While it seems appealing to lose 20lbs, but taking the steps to get there doesn't seem as appealing. Most suddenly think they need to diet and starve themselves to get there which does not sound appealing at all. So you must focus on simple habits that will lead you to results as well as behavior changes in the end. The 20lbs will then seem more effortless. For example, set 3 habits that are manageable, and are also going to help reach that 20lb weight loss goal. So your habits that you set might look something like this. 1. Walk and track 10,000 steps per day. Why? Because it's proven that regular, “incidental” physical activity is effective for weight loss and overall health. 2. Drink 2 cups of water before every meal. Why? Because this will help with satiety. Plus water is calorie-free, and staying hydrated can aid in fat loss and contribute to overall well-being. 3. Get to bed by 10 p.m. every night. Why? Because a good night’s sleep supports the body’s ability to lose weight. Once you've set your new behaviors it's time to take action. How will you remember to drink 2 cups of water before every meal? And what's going to keep you motivated to keep doing it? No worries, I got you. Let's say your new behavior is walk 10,000 steps every day. 1. Purchase something that's going to help you track it such as a FitBit watch. Within your watch, set your goal to 10,000 steps. 2. Set an alarm on your watch to step 3,000 steps before breakfast, lunch and dinner. 3. Write on your calendar each day that your goal is to walk 10,000 steps as a reminder. Once you accomplish it, check it off. Now, it's time to reward yourself! At the end of each day, have a reward for every time you reach 10,000 steps. Maybe you really like wine, so you treat yourself to a glass of wine, or maybe it's to binge watch your favorite TV show. Whatever the reward is, have it be something you look forward to doing at the end of each day! Start following these tips to reaching your ambitious fitness goals and let me know how it goes! I love hearing from my followers. If you need help starting on a workout program or help with your nutrition, check out my services. I help people stay accountable to their goals and more importantly help them accomplish them through Personal Training, Online Training or Online Nutrition Coaching! To read more on creating new habits read 5 Healthy Habits To Improve Your Life.

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