On again; off again relationships with weight loss are as effective as wet wood in a fire. Time and time again, we find ourselves saying “I’m  Ready”, “This time it’s for real”, or we place stipulations on our weight loss such as fitting into a bikini (speedo if you’re a guy), preparing for an event,  or for better health. Yet, every time, we’re faced with the same results…no results….and that’s because one key portion of achieving our goal is missing….and it’s CONSISTENCY. I just recently suffered with that a bit, however, when I put my mind to it, I saw the HUGE changes I can make to my body.

Of course, it stung a bit when I thought of how far I could be had I kept this focus since the beginning. I can’t do anything about the past, but I can see to it that my future doesn’t fall within those same lines. Here are three things I did to better my focus and keep my consistency.

I began to take it seriously

Half hearted efforts produce half hearted results. I prioritized my training and make it a required part of my life, just like brushing my teeth or going to work. Personally, I’ve decided to take the initiative to make my training my second job because in all honesty, that’s exactly what it is. There’s no way I can blog about the importance of health and wellness whilst being passive of my own journey.  I began to schedule my workouts according to my life and make this an appointment I cannot miss.

I checked my laziness at the door

Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today.  One of the many reasons I wasn’t making it in weight loss is because….well….I was just being lazy. Let’s just be honest about it. I found myself making the silliest excuses to not train. It will happen sometimes and can be expected, but when I allowed  that one day to turn into one week, that turned into one month, I found myself around feeling terrible because it’s beach season and all I want to do is bundle up in an over coat.

Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance

I am a HUGE fan of tracking. Setting up a blue print to my weight loss transformation is invaluable to this process.  Planning which workouts I’ll do, which times I’ll do it and my nutritional menu has been invaluable in my journey. Week by week, I’m tracking my results by comparing what I planned to do vs. what was actually done. Weight loss brings about a self awareness and self actualization that we will either love or hate. Tracking tells the truth about your efforts, and it pushes you to step your game up if the results are not satisfactory.

Nothing ground breaking has ever been achieved through inconsistency. Everything that is worth having takes hard work, diligence, resiliency, and taking that extra step to make your goals come to pass. Every day you are consistent in your efforts, puts you a day closer to reaching your goal.  So keep on keeping on, and you will be in that bikini (or speedo) in no time. J \o/