People make new fitness goals all the time. Whether their aim is to lose fat, build muscle, or run a marathon, many people have achieved various goals in their adult years. But what happens after the goal is met? How many people do you know who lose 10 pounds and keep it off? The secret to retaining your fitness achievements is to continue the behavior that got you there—for the rest of your life. Sound difficult? Today I’m sharing advice that has helped countless clients keep their fitness routines going for years.
The first step in figuring out how to get and keep fitness results is honest self-reflection. If you’ve been sedentary and making poor dietary decisions for the last five, 10, maybe 20 years, it is unrealistic for you to alter everything about your life to become a fitness and health fanatic. Review your fitness routine (or lack thereof), your diet, your sleep, and your life stressors. Also consider how much time you have to devote to new changes. Choose one or two categories to make a small modification to, and plan to work on this action for the next couple of months.
After selecting one or two areas of your life to progress, define a small and achievable step to work on. Let’s say you decided you want to add workouts to your completely sedentary lifestyle. For the best results, I would suggest starting with one or two 30-45 minute strength training workouts per week. Other options could be adding a 10 minute walk every day, or signing up for fitness classes twice per week. Whatever your choice, ensure the change is something you can without-a-doubt keep your word to. The point is to choose a new habit you know you can continue to do, for the rest of your life. Once you are readily integrating this habit into your life for several consecutive months, then you can add more time to this habit. Or, choose another category of health improvement to implement a new small step.
But, will small changes even get you the significant results you want? Yes! Most of my clients find long-term success with two to three hour-long strength training workouts per week. This is a realistic amount of time that most people can commit to, long-term. Dedication to lifestyle and behavior changes over years and decades is the key to sustainable fitness outcomes.
Conversely, doing too much too soon is a recipe for either short-term, or zero, results. Fitness “challenges” and programs that encourage you work out every day, alter everything about your diet, implement five new habits every day, etc. are a surefire way to feel like you failed—leading most people to quit within days or weeks. Even if you can white-knuckle your way through a 30-day challenge, again, do you see yourself living these habits and behaviors for the rest of your life? How will you maintain your results if you go right back to the way you lived before the challenge?
Wanting to achieve fitness goals and healthy lifestyle improvements can be overwhelming. Make this daunting task easier on yourself by breaking it down into small, attainable steps. An honest evaluation of where you are and where you hope to be, taking small actions, and slowly creating behavior change are strategies you can use to make your fitness results last forever.
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