Personalizing Your Fitness Goals

40 % of chronic diseases can be prevented through a healthy lifestyle, which includes eating a healthy diet and working out regularly. Yet people have become increasingly obese and sedentary. “People just are not making the connection between unhealthy lifestyle choices and disease risk,” according to Alice Burron, MS, spokeswoman for the American Council on Exercise and author of Four Weeks to Fabulous.

Doctors often try to change people’s attitudes by emphasizing the health benefits of exercise. But a recent study at the University of Missouri, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found that telling people why exercising is good for them does not motivate them. People do not think themselves into being more active and working out, the researchers concluded after studying data on close to 100,000 participants.

Personalizing Your Fitness Goals:

The chance of starting and sticking to an exercise regime increases if people personalize their decisions. “For example,” she says, “if they have a close friend or family member who has suffered from heart disease, stroke, diabetes or cancer, and they resolve to make healthy lifestyle changes to prevent the same fate, success almost always follows.”

Here are some ways to motivate you to lose weight and exercise regularly:

Make specific goals:

Do not just say, “I want to lose weight.” Instead: “I want to lose 20 pounds in a year.” Your goal needs to have specific time frames and be something where you can measure your progress.

Be realistic:

Never expect to lose 20 pounds in two weeks or even three. Set goals that are realistic with the effort and commitment that you can give to them. Also, make sure you have the resources available to achieve your goals. Do not choose swimming as your form of exercise if you do not have access to a pool, or running outdoors when it is going to be freezing outside for the next few months.

Set reminders:

Make a sticky note where you will see them, reminding yourself of the benefits of exercise and sticking to your goals.

Schedule your workout:

Make time for exercise on your calendar, just as you would a doctor’s appointment or work. You can use your phone to set an alarm when it’s time to get moving.

Put it in writing:

Keep a journal with your goals for the week along with your results. After working out, write down what you did and for how long. When you look at the numbers and see progress, it will encourage you to keep going.

Get a partner:

If you have the tendency to bail from exercise at the last minute, finding a partner who can keep you accountable might be a good strategy.

Talk to a trainer:

It is important that your exercise routine be made of activities you like. The more you like them, the more motivated you’ll be to do them. However, you may need a personal trainer to teach you how to properly do the exercises you’ve chosen and set up a routine that you can live with easily.

Making lifestyle changes is similar to remodeling your house. It will go much better if you have a plan. Even making small increases in your physical activities will be beneficial to your overall health.