1. The journey to weight loss, fitness and good health is a long, slow journey and it’s for the rest of your life. It doesn’t stop. Understand this, embrace this, and ENJOY that journey. It’s not something you pick up, finish and put down like a book. It’s more like a Netflix series you’re watching that goes on for unlimited seasons. 

2. YOU are the one who gets to choose what you do every day in terms of the things that will help you reach your weight loss, health and fitness goals. Every day, all day,  is full of choices you will make. Your results and progress and  even how you will feel, depend on which choices you make at every crossroads. Do I eat the bag of chips for a snack or do I eat the healthy snack I prepared earlier for the day? Do I skip my planned workout and go sit on the couch and watch TV or not?  To help you make the choices that will actually get you to where you want to do, you have to have to really be connected to that goal. And you have to have a plan on how you’re going to reach that goal as a goal without a plan of action is just a dream. Your mindset needs to be connected to each step of the way in order to commit. It’s the action steps in your plan and the knowledge of which choices are your healthy choices, that will guide you. And the only thing that keeps you taking those action steps, are the good daily habits you establish. Many people get it wrong: they focus on the goal. Yes the goal is key to have so you know where you’re going. 

But think of it as taking a trip: you know where you want to end up, but you have to MAKE A PLAN on how to get there. Then you actually have to DO THE THINGS that let you follow that plan. To actually DO THE THINGS that let you follow that PLAN, you have to MAKE THE CHOICES that let you DO THOSE THINGS.  To MAKE THE CHOICES that let you DO THOSE THINGS you have to have  the HABITS that let you MAKE THOSE CHOICES. See how all those steps are related to your goal ultimately (being at your trip destination)? But dreaming about and focusing mostly on the destination doesn’t actually get you there? Well, it’s the same thing with your goals. Of course you  need the ultimate goal, and you should connect to that goal every day as motivation  to actually DO the habits, choices, actions and step-by-step plan that actually gets you achieving that goal. 

3. Milestones and progress are not measured on the daily. Lose the daily weighing and obsession with the scale. Because our body weight fluctuates constantly for many reasons, weighing daily may well de-motivate you. And as you lose body fat but gain muscle  yo ur weight can actually stay the same or even go up on a daily or weekly basis. Measure your progress by body measurement tracking, and do this every two weeks. Yes, also weigh yourself every two weeks too as part of assessing your progress and maybe adjusting your plans if you’re working with a coach. But really, losing inches, losing body fat,  gaining muscle is where you want to be and that takes time. But you want to keep your vibe high and if you weigh yourself every day, this can deflate you and throw  you off the track you actually want to be on. Give yourself a break. Lose the (daily) scale. 

4. Each year I look back and see how much I have changed. Every year in my life I have done things I never would have thought I’d do, or could do. Because of years of doing and seeing this, I know now that I can still change, grow, experience and accomplish new things. Each year  I set new goals, make a new plan, establish the good habits that actually let me execute that plan, and I DO change.

5. I know and believe  that the changes  we can make in our bodies,  ourselves and our lives is without limits. We just have to truly want it, then figure out the steps we need to take to get there. Once you see what you have accomplished, you can set new goals. Health and fitness is forever. 

6. Obstacles and things that come (and they will) to throw us off track and just bumps in the road. The key is to not let those bring us to stop. Roll over, past, through them, then keep going. Pick yourself up and begin again. It’s okay to have bad days, hard days, sometimes that’s life. But that doesn’t have to make you throw in the towel and give up. Forget about the past days or even hour. Make a different choice RIGHT NOW and start fresh, move forward. Don’t get stuck in the past or what you just did. Do something different now, the thing that is in alignment with your goals. There’s no shame in just picking yourself up, beginning again right now. The biggest things get achieved with taking that first step, even if you’re taking it AGAIN after having been thrown off track. It’s the only way forward. 

7. The biggest changes happen with small steps, done consistently, every day. It’s the small actions you take every day that lead to your progress and ultimate success in reaching your larger goal. It’s actually the only way change happens, for anyone. In all areas of your life. One day at a time, one step at a time. Then wake up the next day and do that again. A fave quote of mine is from a Chinese proverb: “To get through the hardest journey we need only take one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping”. 

8. It’s only when you look back that you see how much progress you actually made, how different you are. I’m betting you probably surprised yourself! Look back at all the things you have accomplished in your life. I’ll bet there’s lots. They don’t have to be big, dramatic things. EVERYONE has things they’ve done. This is not about comparing yourself to others and what they’ve done, because they are not you nor have they lived your unique life and it’s completely irrelevant. What have YOU done? Use this to gather strength and motivation. You should KNOW you can do anything because you HAVE done some things! You can use this, over and over and over, to motivate yourself to keep going to the NEXT step.

Fitness Spark!: Try these things to help you on your path to optimal health!

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