Plan For Fitness Success

In the next couple of weeks, many of us are going to indulge ourselves in endless calories as we celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year. We will promise ourselves that we'll make it all okay in January when we start our new all inspiring fitness routines. For people that have remained disciplined through out the year, January is a trying time as newbies clog up their gyms and fitness classes. We'll go regularly in January and maybe for a couple of weeks in February and then we'll drop off having made the lives of regular gym users a living hell by using their favorite bikes in spin class, and not knowing how any of the equipment work thereby taking longer than necessary on each one. Personally, I confess that 2019 has ended up being my lowest gym attendance year ever and I have all the usual excuses for why this is the case. To stay motivated in 2020, I have put together the action plan below:

Start a fitness journal and make a note of your goals. These goals should be short term and long term ones. This gives you short term, easily achievable goals and the hope is that the quick wins will keep you motivated to achieve your long term goals. For example, I want to eat more vegetables, with the ultimate goal of reducing my weight by 10lbs by the end of June. At the end of 2020, I want to look more athletic as a result of doing more weight training in the gym. An easy way of keeping track of your progress is to use mobile apps and I'll be using MyFitnessPal.

Identify the activities that interest you and select the most accessible ones. Convenience is the name of the game here since we may not all get the Peloton bike for Christmas. Is your gym or yoga class near you? Is there a spin class close to your place of work or on your commute home? Make sure your fitness activity is easy to get to so it becomes part of your routine. Be sure to make having fun a criteria when chosing your activity and I recommend doing a mix of things such as walking or hiking, kick boxing, dance, weights, CrossFit etc.

Put yourself on blast! Let your friends and family know that you are going on this fitness journey to give yourself accountability. They can also provide the encouragement you'll need when your motivation is low.

Eat healthily. This looks different for everyone but I encourage doing some research; start by choosing recipes that include things that you are familiar with before going all out cooking meals with ingredients you can barely pronounce.

Find inspiration on Instagram. There are many folks doing amazing things on the gram such as @oliviafitmomof3, @CleanFoodCrush and @fitstylegrace. Follow fitness & nutrito on hashtags for exercise and food ideas.

I don't believe in calorie counting. Eat healthily and exercise regularly and overtime, you should reduce your weight. However, looking toned will require a lot of work in the gym and a very carefully planned nutritious diet. Be clear on what you want and work steadily towards your goal. Consult your doctor before doing any exercise especially if you are new to working out. Finally, there are a lot of free fitness routines on Youtube; getting fit does not always mean a gym membership!