If you’ve decided to make 2019 the year in which you become a healthier person, then you might be wondering where exactly to start? Plenty is written on how to go about becoming healthier – joining a gym, walking regularly, cutting out unhealthy foods – but less is written about how you actually focus and motivate yourself to become healthier.
Because having focus and motivation is half the battle when it comes to getting fit. By finding a genuine reason to become healthier other than it being a “new year, new me” fad that wears off within three months, chances are you’ll stick to your new year’s resolution to become fitter.
Here are seven ways in which you can find the motivation to become healthier in 2019.
Personalize your reason for exercising
The chances of sticking to an exercise regime are greatly increased if you personalize your reason for doing it. If a close friend or family member has suffered from heart disease, a stroke, diabetes or cancer and you resolve to make lifestyle changes in order to avoid the same fate, it can have a huge boost on your motivation to become a healthier person.
Likewise, considering the future can also provide the focus that you need. By getting fitter and healthier, you’ll be increasing your chances of living a longer life and watching your children grow old and have children themselves. A healthy lifestyle from you can also inspire your children in the here and now, with experts saying that parents who encourage healthy behavior have healthier children.
Set goals – but make them realistic
Having clearly defined targets can help keep us motivated by giving something to aim at. Saying “I want to lose weight” isn’t enough – you could drop two pounds and have achieved your aim. By saying “I want to lose seven pounds,” you’re giving yourself a clear target that you want to reach which can provide focus.
Of course, these targets need to be realistic. Aiming to shed 20 pounds in two weeks is not going to be achievable, and then when you fail to hit the stated goal, you may end up feeling demoralized and give up altogether. Make sure that what you want to achieve is within reach and then start working towards it.
Schedule your workout
One of the most-used excuses for not exercising is “I didn’t have time today.” You can avoid that by scheduling in exactly when you are going to exercise. Write it in your diary or calendar or set a reminder on your phone – treat it as you would a doctor’s or dentist appointment.
By knowing exactly when you are going to exercise, you’re eliminating the prospect of not being able to fit a workout into your day. It can also provide motivation as you build up to it, knowing what is coming and getting you in the right frame of mind to go out there and give it your all.
Hire a personal trainer
If you hate your exercise routine, then you will be a lot less likely to carry it out on a long-term basis. By finding exercises that you actually enjoy, you might even start to look forward to working out. That’s where a personal trainer comes in. They can help you discover what you like and don’t like as well as what works best for you. A personal trainer can also offer diet advice, which is half the battle when it comes to getting healthier.
You might think that a personal trainer is an expense you can do without, but having someone to push you in the right direction can be extremely motivating. If you’re worried about the cost of one, then why not consider taking out a loan to cover it? Even those with bad credit can now successfully borrow money with companies such as Bonsai Finance offering bad credit loans guaranteed approval.
Find an exercise partner
If the cost of a personal trainer does look too prohibitive even with the financial assistance of a loan, then try and find an exercise partner instead. If you’ve got a friend or relative who shares the same goals of becoming healthier for 2019, then make a pact to work out together regularly. They can help provide motivation and encouragement when you might otherwise give up while out on that run and on those days when you simply don’t want to get out of bed to hit the gym, them dragging you along can be exactly what’s needed.
Should nobody you know be interested in getting fit this year, then there are plenty of other ways to find someone to workout with you, ranging from posting on social media to downloading one of the many workout buddy apps that are now available – as this article on how to find a gym buddy and make the most of your workout highlights.
Download and sign up for a social fitness app
When we receive congratulations for our exercising efforts, then it provides further motivation to keep the routine up – who doesn’t like being told they’re doing great? That is why social fitness apps can play such a big part in providing motivation to smash that run, cycle or swim.
By uploading the activities we’ve taken part into a fitness social media network such as Strava, our followers can give us “kudos” for doing that 5k run in a personal best time or spending an hour on the exercise bike at the gym.
Create a workout journal
Sometimes, all we need to keep us motivated is tangible evidence that what we are doing is working. That’s where a workout journal in which you record everything you do can help.
By writing down your running distances, your swimming times and your lifts after every workout, you’ll see how much fitter and healthier you are becoming. You can also keep a log of your weight from your weekly weigh in – watching the pounds fall off is sometimes all the motivation we need to stick to a plan.
