How to Deal With Change While Pursuing Your Fitness Goals

Dealing With Change While Pursuing Your Fitness Goals
How to Stay on Track

Some women struggle to achieve their fitness goals and spend months or years losing the same pounds over and over again only to quit and regain them. They sometimes mistakenly believe that the women who achieve their goals have more time, less stress, more support, better genetics and a host of other advantages that give them the edge in the game of fitness. However women who achieve their fitness goals are women just like you with many of the same challenges. Their advantage is simply that they are determined to reach their goal. They realize it may take longer than they thought and be harder than they thought but quite frankly they don’t care because WANT the goal that they have set. If you have ever seen ladies at a sale at their favorite department store, you know that nothing can stop a woman going after something she wants. So assuming that you really want the fitness goal that you have set for yourself, lets explore how to deal with some of the most common changes that occur during a body transformation journey.


The Change: The loss of an accountability buddy.
It is difficult to “lone ranger” your way to your fitness goal. A fitness buddy can make the journey more enjoyable and easier to stick to so when you lose your accountability buddy either due to relocation or a buddy’s change in priorities, it is important to find another one. This doesn’t mean ending your friendship with your previous buddy if they are not sabotaging your efforts, it just means finding another person who is on the same road that you are and linking up to hold each other accountable and up the fun factor. You can find a buddy at boot camp, your gym, or even on an online forum. You can provide encouragement through texts, Facebook messages, and phone calls. If you live close and can work out or cook food together that’s great too. You may be surprised how much support you can receive from people you don’t even know.

The Change: New job or family demands.
It can be challenging to keep up with your old routine when your life demands change. Whether your work schedule changes, your children are out of school for the summer, or you are required to travel more than usual, you can continue your fitness journey somewhat seamlessly. The first step is to assess the change and identify which parts of your previous routine don’t fit anymore. Next come up with a new routine that does fit. Be open minded about different ways to fit in your exercise and supportive foods. When things change…things will have to change in order for you to keep going on your fitness journey. Don’t be stubborn. Assess and change before your results suffer. Get help from a professional if you don’t know how to adjust your program.

The Change: You feel less motivated than before and feel old habits creeping back. As counterintuitive as it may be- sometimes getting results isn’t all you need to stay motivated especially if your ultimate goal is a long way off. If you find yourself feeling less than motivated, set mini goals that support your overall goal. Knowing that you will have the satisfaction of a “win” in the near future can be enough to keep you pushing forward and resisting the temptation to slow down in your efforts. Having mini goals can also help you steer clear of the “I just thought I would be closer by now” feelings that sometimes creep in and sabotage your progress. You will have something to be excited about achieving soon as well as the momentum from a recent win fueling you.