Let’s face it folks; losing weight and getting fit is not easy at all. With all the temptation out there and lack of motivation, many of us find it difficult to keep track of our fitness goals and weight loss. But with motivation, support, and goals in mind, you can keep track of your fitness goals and even lose some weight.
If you are at a loss as to where you should start, then check out these six tips to a better life.
1. Start a food diary
A food diary is an excellent way to keep yourself in check, and it also shows you your eating habits, whether they be good or bad. It’s a good way to get a perspective on your overall health and eating habits. One of the biggest hurdles to losing weight is what you put in your body. Many of us tend to stress, eat or eat because we’re emotional, but you have to put emotional eating aside to lose weight. If you feel like you need a boost, why not look for the best carnitine supplement on the market.
2. Download a fitness tracker app
Fitness tracker apps are a great way to monitor yourself in real-time and make sure that you hold yourself accountable for your fitness. What is more, some fitness tracker apps can set reminders to help you exercise, and it’s a great motivational coach especially when you can see how many calories you’ve burned and how much more exercise you need to do for the day to meet your goals.
3. Join a club
One of the pitfalls of losing weight is not having social accountability. With social responsibility and support, you can make sure that you keep yourself in check and there’s someone else there to track your weight loss goals especially at places like Jenny Craig or other weight loss clubs.
You might be apprehensive about joining a weight-loss group and feel judged, but no one in that group is there to judge you at all. You are all there for a common goal which is to lose weight and have a healthy life. If you can not afford the expense of joining a club, then turn to social media for support.
4. Buy a measuring tape
Sometimes when you start on a weight loss journey, you don’t always see results straight away, or you can’t recognize them because they had a gradual. But with tracking and measuring your hips and waist size, you will slowly see the changes and having them written down on paper will re-enforce the weight loss. Remember, with weight loss it is not a quick journey. There is no get out of jail free/get a thin, fast program.
5. Keep track of your steps
Step counters are a great way to motivate you and also keep track of how active you were and a day it is recommended that people take 10000 steps a day, but many of us only take 2 to 3000 steps a day or less. You can buy tracking watches or pedometers that will track how many steps I have done in a day and if you buy a fancy one you can send the results to your computer or store them on your phone.
6. Take progress photos
Strip down to your underwear and take a photo every day. A picture tells a thousand words, and with the right side shots, you will see a difference, though gradual it may be. If you are concerned about privacy, perhaps you could go out and buy a cheap Polaroid camera. If photos are not your thing, then you could buy a scale. Yes, no one likes to get on the scale, but it is a vital way to see your daily progress to keep yourself in check.
Especially if you have slipped and started eating poorly or reverted to your old ways, weigh yourself every day when you wake up and keep a log so that you can see your gradual progress. If you find an incremental gain, then you need to sit down and ask yourself some tough questions to reset your weight loss journey.
The Takeaway
Weight loss is a journey, not a race. It is a hard thing to look in the mirror and see that you need to make a change, but with careful planning, accountability, and confidence in yourself, you can make the fitness changes you need to live your best life. There may be those along the way which are not supportive of you or try to sabotage what you have already achieved.
They are not the type of people you need in your life. With the help of the tools above and a great support network, you will surely achieve your fitness and weight-loss goals in 2020 and beyond.
Troy is an editor, book coach, author of over 32 novels and several works of non-fiction, and the education lead for Plottr. He lives, works, and plays in Boise, Idaho.
Passionate about writing dark psychological thrillers, he is an avid cyclist, skier, hiker, all-around outdoorsman, and a terrible beginning golfer.
