STAY motivated!
You know how it is – you start with good intentions, full of determination to drop a dress size in time for summer – and then two weeks later you’ve lost interest and start to feel down, demotivated and cross with yourself for having failed again. Well not this time – the secret to successful inch loss is getting in the right mindset and motivating yourself with achievable goals. “If you want to lose six inches from your waist and drop several dress sizes that’s great,” says personal trainer Annie Deadman (www. anniedeadman.com). “But it can also feel overwhelming – and of course we all want it to happen yesterday.” The truth is you’ll only be successful if you set yourself smaller, achievable goals that you can master each week.
CHOOSE YOUR HIGH-STAKES GOAL
Think about what you really want to achieve with your new healthy-eating and exercise plan. Maybe for you it’s not your size or shape that matters, but the health benefits you’d like to see instead. “Your goal needs to be high stakes – something that really matters to you,” says health and fitness expert James Crossley (www.chelseafitness.co.uk). “If you don’t care about dropping a dress size don’t make that your goal – choose something else that you really want instead.” Ask yourself what would really motivate you – perhaps you want to lose weight so your joints feel less painful, or you’d like to be able to get upstairs without feeling out of puff?
BE REALISTIC
When you’re setting goals you need to keep two things in mind – your starting point and how much time you have. “Saying you want to run a marathon in two months if you can’t currently run to the end of your street isn’t realistic,” says James. “And the same can be said for some inch-loss targets.” It’s great to want to be a size 12, but if you’re currently a size 18 that journey might seem impossible, especially if you don’t give yourself enough time to achieve it. Choose a goal nearer your starting point to work towards – when you hit that target set a new one. Dropping a dress size at a time and giving yourself a realistic four to six weeks to do it is a good idea.
TAKE SMALL STEPS
Now you’ve got your highstakes goal in place you need to think about how you’re going to get there. “It’s vital to have targets that are about setting healthy habits, not your physical appearance,” says James. It could be to have a healthy breakfast every day, a pile of green vegetables at dinner, drinking at least four glasses of water, going for a daily walk, doing resistance exercises three times a week, or preparing healthy snacks. Make your goals measurable – write down a goal for each day, each week and each month. Tick off tasks that you’ve achieved and give yourself a pat on the back!