6 Ways to Help Stick to Your Fitness Goals

These days there's tons of activity opportunities available to us, from gyms to fitness DVDs, from running a charity race to attending a fitness class there's something to suit everyone. So why aren't we all super-fit and enjoying a healthy life?
Dr Simon Evetts believes he's found the answer. He's worked as an exercise physiologist for NASA in California and now currently the Senior Lecturer in Exercise Science at Thames Valley University,
"I knew that something was fundamentally wrong with the world of fitness, because my industry had decades worth of experience and a plethora of effective services and products and yet 65% of our society was still overweight or unfit. We say we know how to get people fit and yet it doesn't happen. What is wrong?"
What he concluded was that it's not what's wrong, but what is missing - and what is missing from the health and fitness formula is adherence.
Says Evetts: "Adherence is the ability to stick to something until goals have been achieved. It is a multifactorial issue, which is being dealt with in parts by many people and organisations, but which as yet has not been clearly recognised or adequately addressed as a whole. Over the next decade we will see a revolution in health and fitness based upon 'adherence', but you can start today."

Here are six ways to help you stick to your new healthy lifestyle:-
1. Set yourself goals- Setting yourself goals are extremely important in order to help you to focus your mind and get to where you want to be. Try setting a set of short term goals with a time frame to be acheived in 6-12 weeks such as lose 1 or 2 stone before a holiday or to be able to jog on a treadmill for 20 mins. Have a long term goal of about 12 months such as running a long distance race for charity.
2. Find your driving force-Find out the true reason for your goal, It's not just 'to lose weight and look good', there is more. Find out from deep within yourself why you need to look good, feel good or be fitter/healthier. Identify this and your motivation will improve 10 fold
3. Find an activity/exercise you enjoy- It's no good choosing an exercise you dislike because the chances are you woen't stick to it. You stand a better chance of sticking to it if you enjoy it.
4. Life alignment- Look at the other aspects of your life (family, work) that will exist along side your quest for health and fitness. Will there be any conflicts along the way? Identify where your exercise programme might cause problems with other elements of your life and act to resolve these in advance.
5.Visual feedback- Research has shown that the most effective exercise programmes are those which include visual feedback. Graph the weight that you're losing or how fast you are running a set distance, this will help with your general motivation.
6. Relapse strategies - Be prepared if relapse happens. Tell yourself that relaspe is all part of the process of change and shouldn't be the end of trying to change yourself. Identify what might cause a relapse for you and how you can prepare yourself so that you have a good chance to fight it when it happens. Think about what could cause you to give up exercise and avoid these situations.