When I heard the story of the tortoise and the hare as a child, I immediately identified with the tortoise. The wisdom of the slow and steady approach made perfect sense to my kindergarten self. Sadly, it’s an undervalued strategy in our culture where multitasking, constant busyness and instant gratification are glamorized.
Finding a way to keep your focus on the long game is, in my opinion, the key to reaching your fitness goals.
It’s tempting to look at images of perfection on social media and believe the messages we’re bombarded with—that you just have to pay for some new product or secret technique to get the body of your dreams. Only after being disappointed time and again do we come to accept there is no instant fix. It’s easy enough to set goals but what separates those who succeed from the rest of the pack is how long they stick with it. And that takes focus.
I’m a big believer in making small, sustainable changes to create lasting improvements in every aspect of our lives—especially when it comes to our health. Small changes mentally prepare us for the days we don’t see any improvement and—gasp!—even the days when we seem to be backtracking so we don’t get discouraged and quit.
So how can you stay focused when the changes you want seem so far away?
Here are 9 ways to help keep you on track so you can make your goals a reality.
1. Appreciate Your Body As It Is Right Now
Our day to day thoughts have more impact on our success than many of us realize. By doing the mental work of cultivating a positive regard for your body, you unconsciously start to adopt better habits without even working hard to do it.
No matter where you are on your fitness goals, reflect on what you love about your body—just as it is. Our culture teaches women to focus on and obsess over any part of ourselves that doesn’t match up with narrow societal standards. Get in the habit of challenging these patterns of thought. When you catch yourself having a negative thought about your body, immediately stop and think of three things you appreciate about it. Maybe you have thick, glossy hair, cat-like reflexes and 20/20 vision. Take time to appreciate all of it. Make a list and add to it often. Learn to let go of the need for the approval of others to feel good about yourself.
Another way to show appreciation for your body is to prioritize taking exceptional care of yourself—physically, mentally and emotionally. When you truly care more about how you feel than catering to the demands and expectations of others, your behavior towards yourself will change. You won’t be so likely to load up on junk food, skip sleep and say yes to things you don’t want to do.
It might feel indulgent at first. Others may even try to convince you that you’re being selfish for not sacrificing your own needs in order to meet theirs. But you’ll find that when you take care of you first, you have so much more energy to share with others—and more to put toward your fitness goals.
2. Make It Easy With an App
I love the ease of using a fitness app. It means I don’t have to figure out what to do every day for my fitness routine. I just open the app and follow along to get a great workout every time.
Apps also allow me to work out at home. When I had a gym membership, there were so many days I didn’t exercise because getting ready to go, making the drive there and back home often took up the time I had available to do a workout in the first place. When I exercise at home I’m much more likely to jump into my sweats and get it done.
I’ve been using the Sweat app by Kayla Itsines for over a year now and I can’t recommend it enough. There are a lot of fitness apps on the market but this is by far the best one I’ve tried.
Many fitness apps are designed to be used at home with minimal equipment but even if you prefer going to the gym, most, including SWEAT, can also be used at the gym and can take the guesswork out of what you need to do to get results faster. You get the benefit of a virtual professional trainer and apps often come with a supportive community and motivational challenges, as well.
3. Commit to Moving Just a Little
Some days you just don’t feel motivated. Maybe even most days. Luckily, motivation isn’t a requirement for fitness. All it takes is a promise to yourself that you’ll start. The trick is, once you start you’ll likely want to keep going. When I don’t feel like exercising, I tell myself all I have to do is 10 minutes. After that I can quit if I want to. But I never want to. Once I’ve been going for 10 minutes, I feel energized and have the motivation to finish the workout. Another session in the books.
4. Think of Exercise as a Reward in Itself
If you think of exercise as a chore, it will become a chore. When you believe it’s hard, it will be hard. If you think of it as punishment to make up for the cookies you ate, your subconscious will eventually rebel making it harder to stay committed.
Psychologically, it’s motivating to think of exercise as its own reward. Think about how you feel right after you exercise. Moving makes you alert and energized. It gets your heart pumping. It increases blood flow to your brain and circulates feel-good endorphins. It’s easier to think and focus. You feel more alive and euphoric. When you start to see these benefits in your life, you’ll become addicted to feeling good and you’ll start to look forward to exercising.
It’s easier to think of exercise as a reward when you choose activities you actually like doing. Instead of forcing yourself to run at the crack of dawn, hating every minute of it, do something you enjoy. Rollerskating, dancing, swimming and playing sports are all activities that will get your heart pounding. What’s more, when you’re having fun, you’re much more likely to stay active in the long run. Treat yourself with kindness in every way, even in the exercise you choose.
5. Have a Vision
Comparing yourself to social media images of perfection can be damaging to your happiness and peace of mind. But there is a place for social media in motivating ourselves if we can keep things in perspective. Images can help us pinpoint and visualize what we want for ourselves. They can inspire us to push harder when we feel like giving up.
We all need something to work towards and we have to know what we want before we can make it a reality in our lives.
Constantly pushing beyond our current abilities keeps us engaged and growing. Having a vision is part of what gets us there.
That said, you don’t have to use images on social media if you don’t want to. A photo of yourself when you were in your best shape ever works just as well for motivation. Experiment to find what visuals inspire you.
6. Use Measurable Ways to Mark Your Progress (Just Not Your Body Weight)
I don’t use a scale to track fitness progress because the numbers can fluctuate too much from week to week and even day to day depending on water retention and other factors. That can make you feel like you’re not making progress when you actually are every day. Since muscle weighs more than fat, you may even weigh more as you become more fit but you’ll be leaner, stronger and more defined.
More important than your weight is how you feel, how you look and how your clothes fit. Instead of trying to attain a certain weight, try setting achievable and measurable goals that more accurately reflect your progress:
- Take weekly photos in a full length mirror (or have a friend do it) to track your progress visually. Seeing your body leaning out and becoming more defined can be super motivating—but don’t get discouraged if there are weeks that go by without a perceptible change. It will come!
- Make a goal to achieve something you can’t yet physically do like three pull ups or 20 consecutive pushups.
- Set an intention to learn a new physical skill or sport like scuba diving, salsa dancing or rock climbing
- Sign up, train for and run a 5K or half marathon in your community.
- Track measurements like waist circumference and body fat percentage. Losing inches is much more indicative of real progress than losing pounds which is sometimes just temporary water loss.
For every milestone you achieve, make sure to take time and acknowledge the great job you’re doing. Then set a new goal. Always having goals to work towards keeps us engaged and motivated.
7. Accept That Lasting Change Takes Time
If you start an exercise program and expect to see dramatic changes overnight or even in the first few weeks, you’ll likely be disappointed and tempted to give up. Know that lasting changes take some time. When starting a new goal, I like to remind myself of this quote I found on Pinterest:
“In 4 weeks you’ll feel it
In 8 weeks you’ll see it
In 12 weeks others will see it”
Find something every day to focus on that keeps you positive. Know you’re getting there one day at a time. If you have a day where you feel like you backtracked or the improvements aren’t coming fast enough, just have faith in the process. Know with all your heart that the changes you’re making are going to add up and become something you can feel and see if you just keep going.
When you do appear to be backtracking (which will happen from time to time), don’t get down on yourself. It happens to everyone. There’s never a straight line from A to B when it comes to fitness. Some days you might feel bloated or have a low energy day and just need rest. Take it. Give yourself the same consideration you would to a good friend. Then get back on track ASAP.
8. Make Sustainable Changes to Your Diet
Your diet has more impact on your body composition than anything else. Instead of depriving yourself with crash diets you’ll never be able to maintain or choosing a goal that will leave you feeling deprived—like cutting out carbs completely— make small and easy changes you can continue indefinitely. Instead of thinking of it as a diet, consider it a new lifestyle you’re going to adopt from now on.
A sustainable start to eating healthier is to check labels and stop buying anything with high-fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated vegetable oils as main ingredients. They’re some of the most harmful ingredients for our health and waistlines. Just eliminating these ingredients from your diet is a positive step towards wellness and better health. Other controversial ingredients to start paying attention to are artificial sweeteners like Splenda and Aspartame, trans fats, high sugar content, sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite.
Another easy way to tweak your diet is to stop keeping sweets and junk food in your house. They can be too tempting to overeat when your energy is low. Instead, save indulgences for a special occasion like when you have a nice dinner out.
Try Tweaks in How and When You Eat and Not Just in What You Eat.
Every body processes nutrients differently. Some people are prone to drops in blood sugar if they go too long between meals, leaving them feeling cranky, lightheaded and nauseous. For these people, eating small meals or snacks every few hours makes them feel their best. Others find that intermittent fasting works for losing weight and maintaining a healthy body composition. Experiment to figure out what kind of schedule makes you feel your best and resist pressure to give up your needs to fit other’s schedules.
Mindful eating is the practice of consciously slowing down and paying close attention to really savor what you’re eating. From a psychological standpoint this helps because over time we learn to be satisfied with less. When you mindlessly nosh on chips & salsa as you binge on Netflix, your body doesn’t register the pleasure of the experience, leaving you feeling deprived. We often overeat simply because we never took the time to enjoy what we ate in the first place so the body craves more just to have those pleasure centers activated. When you practice mindful eating, you’ll be less inclined to eat for pleasure when you’re not actually hungry.
9. Change Up With Each New Season
Try new activities regularly to keep your workouts fun and challenging. Each new season invites us to work and play in different ways. Maybe you like running during spring and fall but not in summer when it’s hot and humid. Instead, you could swim, bike or play volleyball. In the winter, elliptical machines and treadmills can help you stay moving as well as indoor classes like yoga, pilates and barre. If you love the snow, snowshoeing and skiing are some excellent calorie-torching workouts.
Every time you shake up your routine you’ll challenge new muscle groups which gets you fresh results and prevents a fitness plateau.
No matter which activities you try, the most important thing is just to get moving. Taking care of your body’s need for physical exercise will impact every aspect of your life helping you stay mentally vibrant, energized and happy.
