How To Renew Your Fitness Motivation

Has your fitness motivation left you, well, unmotivated? You're not alone. The desire to get in shape but the failure to achieve it is near epidemic. Obesity runs rampant and is also near epidemic if not full-blown in the United States.

Weight loss alone is a huge issue, and the industry has created many millionaires. But even the thin are not necessarily fit. Recent research has shown that a build up of fat tissue around the organs can be a health problem, even when a person appears not to be overweight.

Let's face it, being fit is better. You feel better when you're physically fit and you're more equipped to handle life's challenges. You have more endurance and don't get tired so easily. Given the choice, most people would say that they want to lose weight and get in shape.

The diet and fitness industry sells billions of dollars worth of products, pills, and gimmicks every year. How many fitness club memberships go unused? How many fitness machines are purchased every year, and then sold at flea markets the next?

Part of the reason we see poor fitness motivation is what I would call commercial brainwashing, in addition to unrealistic expectations. Magic pills don't work. The truth is that reaching a true level of fitness involves proper nutrition and regular exercise. The very industry that promises solutions is partly to blame for your poor fitness motivation.

If you've attempted to lose weight and get in shape without success, you may have experienced these problems:

Too much work for not enough reward. If you invest too much into a business and it doesn't produce, you close it down. No results in your efforts to get fit kills your motivation.

Giving yourself choices can be a great motivator. But, the thousands of advertising messages pounding on you every week telling you that you can lose weight by buying a pill or a machine are not helping you. There are too many distractions. You have to find a plan that works for you and stick to it.

Every company with an exercise DVD, a diet plan, and a famous celebrity assures you that they're better than the rest. Without trying them all, how can you choose from cardio, spinning, Pilates, and all the various fitness machines?

Maybe you should just take a pill or eat some magic fruit and be done with it. That sounds better than sweating up a storm, don't you think?

Difficulty staying on point is a big problem. Some of us go for years with no set plan or system to follow. We look back on the last five or ten years and wonder how we gained 30 or 40 pounds. It's not that hard to figure out, Is it? Giving yourself excuses to skip your exercise plan or cheat on your diet can severely sabotage your efforts.

Below are ways to improve your fitness motivation:

One of the most important things you can do is shut out the noise. Stop watching infomercials, paying attention to celebrity endorsements, and listening to the myths.

The other thing you must do is find a fitness plan that's effective. That includes proper nutrition, creating a calorie deficit, boosting your metabolism, and doing more efficient workouts. Workouts based on newer research allow you to spend less time and effort and get better results.

You must commit. Once you find a plan that works, stick to it. Don't hop from one program to another hoping to find that magic pill. Success takes consistent time and effort, even with the best plans.

Track results. Track your results and see what's working. Adjust your plans if needed, and refocus your efforts. Do more of what's working and stop doing what isn't.

If you want to make a big change, make lots of little changes. Don't turn your life upside down to accommodate your fitness plan. Instead, find a way to work it into your schedule without disrupting things. Find a complete and workable fitness plan and commit to it. Track your results, and adjust as needed until you get the results you want.

Here's more on firing up your fitness motivation including some tips.