Even if you love to exercise it is easy to get off track with your fitness goals. Below are a few tips I've used personally that may help you as well to get back to achieving your fitness goals. Photography features model Kristen Maree.
Refresh your fitness goals
1. Go back to your "why" - There was a reason you wanted to set healthy exercise goals. Revisit that reason and assess if that “why” still matters to you. Ask yourself if the goals you have set align with your reason to exercise. Does it align with your life values or was it based on "shoulds"? I'm hoping it was because you wanted to be a vibrant, healthy person, but if you are "shoulding" yourself in any way, this could be why you've come off track.
2. Re-assess your exercise goals - Did you set achievable goals based on where you were when you started? Are they too challenging to obtain or too boring to interest you? Ask yourself if your goals are realistic from where you are starting from. If they seem too big, then break your goals down smaller. Too small, then get creative with something bigger. Don't forget to keep re-assessing along the way.
3. What is your strategy to get there? - Having your why and your goal in place is a great foundation, but you need a good strategy for how you will get there. Are you setting yourself up for success or did you just dive in and hope for the best?
4. Make it fun - I often hear people say they don't like running, but yet they beat themselves up for not getting out there and running. So find what you love to do for cardio, weight training or balancing exercises. Find a path to achieving your goals that is fun for you and not how someone else got there.
5. Switch out your habits to find the time - Finding time these days to do everything you want to do is a challenge. So a great excuse to not fit exercise in is that there is no time. One way around that is to take a habit that doesn't fit with your values and swap it out for a healthy one. If you usually spend 30 minutes scrolling on social media in the morning, swap that out for a 30 minute walk in the morning. If you usually just sit and watch a TV show, swap out sitting for some free weight time while watching TV. Instead of trying to work in a new habit, change out an old one.
6. Celebrate milestones - Become aware of the smallest of actions you take in the direction of your goals. It's the culmination of all those micro steps that add up to your new healthy habits. Hold yourself accountable, but don't spend time focusing on what didn't go right. Take note of it if you can use it to your advantage, but negative self talk won't get you to your goals. You can always get up and do something positive in any given next minute. So take it!