5 Tips for achieving your health and fitness goals

Posted on November 01, 2012 by Kameka Green, One of Thousands of Health and Fitness Coaches on Noomii.

1. Finding your WHY
What’s your motivation for wanting to create a change? It’s known that understanding the motivation for doing anything will help a person to stick with the process of making any change. Sadly, the reason people find it difficult to continue on the health and fitness path is due to not finding a “why”. The why can be the wedding next spring, making a change due to a condition that runs in the family like diabetes or hypertension. Or quite simply to feel better the way you look and feel. Often, writing down the why will serve as a motivator when the not so easy days come your way. Having a why will keep your eyes on the prize and push you forward, on those” I don’t feel like it days”.

2. Research
Now that you have cleared the first step, the next tip is doing your research. A mentor of mine T. Harv Eker mentioned, that many people use more time planning their vacation than they do planning their lives. I am not sure how true the statement however; one thing that I have come to learn is lack of research when starting any fitness or lifestyle change can create more of the same. Meaning, continuing to think the same thing without any new information, tends to keep you in the same place. If moving in a new direction is important to you and your family make it a point of duty to set yourself up for success. Do the research to create a base of knowledge to move through the process. The research could include a few fitness magazines, books on preparing healthy food choices or talking with someone who has been able to make fitness a priority. By no means will you become a professional on the topic, but a little research especially in new territory tends to go a long way to creating lasting change.

3. Support system
Finding or creating a support group or network is a key factor in creating any new habit. The support group will help to keep you accountable to your fitness goals and serve as a place to vent and when the going gets tough and the couch is more comfortable. The support system can be anyone you trust a friend, family member or in the age of social media online groups.

4. Action
Once all the research is gathered and you have a clearly defined why the next step is to action. If your goal is exercise begin with a small goal 30 min 3 days a week to build your confidence. Once the habit becomes consistent then you can increase to 45min or 60 min a 4-5 days a week. The key with acting is that you get up and do something at the stated day and time you established. Again, the support group will assist with this on the days when you are feeling unmotivated or tried. In the act phase, do your best to keep things consistent. If you choose to work out Monday, Wednesday & Friday before work keep it consistent especially for the first few months.

5. Evaluate/ Reward
In corporate a method of evaluation and reward is important to any goal. With evaluation you are able to assess if the current plan of action is working. If so why? Or Why not? If things are not moving in the right direction, what changes can be implemented to create the results that you want? Do you need to adjust your expectation? Perhaps your time frame is way off losing 60lbs in 30 days is probably not the best goal. Additionally, rewarding yourself for a job well done is part of the evaluation process as well. A reward could be a massage after 30 days of completing workouts consistently; new shoes or a new video game whatever works for you. The reward is another great motivator for staying the course.

To your success on your fitness journey!

Kameka~