Diet & Fitness 

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Stick with your programme

Unfortunately there are no guarantees in life, but think about this: Do you have a better chance of building a house when you work from a blueprint, or when you throw together a bunch of boards and nails without much planning or forethought? Well, focus on your fitness programme in the same way. Like any other major undertaking, it requires a plan of sorts to increase your chances of success.

Here are the four steps we recommend you follow to help keep you exercising long-term: Know your starting point, set some realistic goals, map out a plan and continually re-evaluate the first three steps. Now let’s explain each point.

1. Know your starting point: It's not enough to say you need to get in shape. You need to know exactly which fitness areas need improvement. We recommend getting a professional fitness evaluation by an experienced personal trainer. Though this will not give you medical information or advice, a good trainer can tell you how much body fat you have, how strong and flexible you are and how conditioned your heart and lungs are. This gives you a tangible starting point against which you can measure your progress. You should also check with your doctor before starting any new fitness programme.

2. Set some realistic goals: Once you know your starting point, it's easier to determine where you're going. Use your ‘baseline’ measurements to help you decide on realistic and motivating goals. For instance, if your body fat is now 30 percent and your trainer tells you that a healthier percentage for a woman is closer to 20 percent, you know your ultimate goal will be to lose 10 percent body fat. Your trainer can translate this into pounds on the scales for you. Why not break your larger goals into several stepping-stones, so in this case you would aim for losing body fat in five sets of two per cent each. Ask your trainer to help you with goal setting, and make sure you're aiming for something that has personal meaning and gets you excited about your workout.
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