Tips for Making and Keeping Fitness Goal

We have all done it. We've made promise to ourselves on multiple occasions that we cannot keep. Over the years, I had to deal with patients who do not comply with fitness recommendations as part of their treatment protocol for injuries they've incurred in various ways. The problem was that no textbook has prepared me for such dilemma. However, solution to this dilemma was relatively simple. Here are some of the surefire ways to keep your promise to yourself.

1. Make Small Changes: Introducing major workout routine calls for a lifestyle change. It's a big commitment. That's why people put it off until some major holidays or change of seasons. First, you need to introduce a very light workout program that's easy to do. A 5 minute jog or a brisk walk is nice. It can be some yoga movement for a few minutes. It can be anything that wouldn't impact your every day routine. Once you've established routine of doing something, then start adding more to it little by little until it develops into a decent regiment of workout.

2. Find Something You Will Enjoy: This doesn't require much of explaining. The activity itself should be motivating. If you need to motivate yourself to do something, then it's likely a wrong activity for you. You can eventually get to enjoy those activities once you become good at it. However, for those who are motivationally challenged, activities should be selective. That doesn't mean you need to stick to old routines only. For example, for years, I've been meaning to include hiking to my routine. However, the amount of time involved plus daunting task of how-to (finding right gears, planning, etc...) were deterrent factors. Of course, once I tried it, I loved it so much that I made time for it.

3. Make Commitment You Cannot Get Out Of (Optional): There are many outlets such as meetup.com that let's one join a group of people with same hobby or activity interest. For some, this is a great way to get introduced to new activities. For others, like myself, this simply wasn't enough. I would never find time to actually participate in one of the meetings. However, I found my Achilles Tendon; My Kids. My elementary school attending kids have joined a jogging club. Since I was a bad role model in fitness, my children didn't learn good fitness habits from me. As a consolation, to motivate them to participate, I have promised them that I'd run with them at every session of their jogging club. Of course, first couple of weeks, I get up in the morning I regret making such promises. But at the end of the jogging session, I'm glad I've made such promise to my kids.

By the way, if you know you won't be able to keep your promise, please do not make them with your kids. Being a parent who cannot keep promises isn't quite good for your child's upbringing.

4. Don't Keep Track of Numbers: Your fitness goal should be overall health, not just weight loss. Weight loss should be a side effect of achieving good health instead of being the ultimate goal. Weight alone isn't a good gage on your health status. So do not keep track of your poundage. Most likely, you won't be losing much weight during initial stage of workout and that may discourage you from the activities. Just establish your routine first. Then, once you know you have established a routine that you'll keep, you can set side goals that you can objectively measure.

In the society that we live in today, taking an hour or two out of our busy lives is quite challenging. Most people fail because they underestimate what a major change this requires. You are practically throwing out your old routine and establish a new one. Recognize that you have a major task at hand. Then make slow changes that you can live with. Now go out and have fun!