7 Ways to Start Your Fitness Program

Fitness is a choice. You will never achieve the body you want if you don’t want it. However, most people do want to get fit but just don’t know how to go about doing it.

If you belong to this category, here are seven steps to jumpstart your fitness program:

1. Stand in front of the mirror naked. If your reflection doesn’t fit or if you don’t recognize the elephant of a man or woman staring right back at you, you know it’s time to get your life back.

2. Record what you have eaten for a full week. List down every little bit-those five pancakes, that large juicy steak, the whole box of pizza or that milk carton you guzzled late last night. Always have your little notebook with you so you don’t forget. Have a separate record of your water intake. Your food diary will give you an idea as to how to go about making dietary changes in your life.

3. Invest in a pedometer to use each day. You can’t expect to record more than eight hundred steps on it if you live a sedentary lifestyle. Aim for 10,000 steps a day if you want to prevent illness and remain healthy. Don’t think it’s impossible because it can be done. However, you have to take it slowly and increase your steps gradually.

4. Take stock of what you have inside your refrigerator and if it’s mostly in boxes or cans, get rid of it. Replace it with vegetables, fruit slices, whole grains, fish and lean meat. Steer clear of sodas, processed junk food items and cured meats like bacon and hotdogs. They are notorious for putting on the extra pounds.

5. Take an honest look at yourself and see if there are issues in your life that are leading you to seek comfort from food. Often, people eat to distract themselves from a problem they are facing. It could be stresses from work, a difficult relationship or death of a loved one. Others are more successful in their fitness program if they resolve these first before taking that big step towards changing your diet or enrolling in a gym. Others, however, find that they can cope with their issues better by exercising all the stresses away. Choose the path that’s right for you.

6. Don’t expect to get it perfectly the first time. You will cheat on certain days by sneaking in more than a slice of chocolate cake or drinking soda when water is available. You will be lazy on some days where your workout is concerned. Just learn from your failures and resolve to do better. Whatever you do, don’t use your mistake as an excuse to abandon your fitness regimen.

7. Expect to be ridiculed. There will even be family members who will tell you that won’t go anywhere in your weight loss efforts. Don’t mind them. Concentrate on yourself. You want to stay fit because you want to be healthy.

Last but not least, be sure to check out our comprehensive P90X workout review and this article about Brazilian Butt Lift.