Be measured, meaningful and moderate in your goals...

EVERYTHING in moderation is one of the best pieces of advice there is - it’s as simple as that. And while starting out on a new fitness regime requires some degree of moderation when it comes to what you eat, abstinence simply doesn’t work. If you commit to exercising on a regular basis and you are conscious about what you eat, then you’re on your way to the kind of success that will herald long-term benefits.

There’s a deluge of diets and eating tips out there that range from the mildly sensible to the overtly insane. It might sound good in theory to survive only on a diet of broccoli while exercising for four hours a day, but this is ridiculous and doesn’t take into account real life situations. A period of abstinence may be required at the outset of a fitness programme just to get the metabolism in alignment with what’s needed but that’s as much as what’s needed, so take note.

As your fitness programme evolves, you will need to taper your plan to make it realistic as you simply won’t achieve your goal or get to the finish line otherwise. Fitness and losing weight is essentially a pendulum that swings both ways. But the key is to halt dramatic swings to extreme bouts of being fit and unfit.

Introduce little alterations to your life as they have a greater chance of lasting longer than overwhelming yourself with heavy bouts of training and dieting. If you exercise regularly you can enjoy treats regularly. This is the simple fact that gets repeatedly overlooked which is why failure rates are higher among those who rush headfirst into fitness regimes. You’re not a professional athlete and you’re not likely to have the luxury of devoting your entire day exclusively to fitness. All things considered, you must work sensibly within the parameters of family and work life. Learning to merge change, as opposed to inflicting it, will yield better results.