The ultimate challenge

So, it's that time of year again. The weather is getting warmer, (slowly!), and January and February have flown past but you still haven't gotten around to really starting that health kick you were all geared up for.

Well, you had all good intentions right?

You bought all that fresh fruit and veg, green tea and turkey mince as well as signing up to the gym or promising yourself you'll definitely start jogging 3 times a week, (thing is it's been really cold and dark so that's kind of not really happened), but you still haven't lost anything or you're way off target.

Are you telling yourself it's fine because you'll just get really into it this week? Or have you realised that something else is holding you back?

More than likely it's YOU! You haven't set yourself clear enough goals and you're not even sure why they're important to you. It's all well and good saying that you want to lose half a stone but if you have no idea why you want it or how you're going to get there then you might as well kiss that idea goodbye right now!

95% of success or failure stems from the mind.

Having clear and defined goals and a definite pathway to the end result is a major factor in all successful weight loss programmes.

You need to plan to win. Atheletes don't go in to win gold by kind of thinking about it, they plan their nutrition, training calender, even their rest to make sure they get there and get there at the right time.

Ok, I hear you, you're not an athelete right? But are your goals any less important to you? If they are then maybe you need to rethink them and find out what it is that really will make a difference in your life. If you know what you want and why you want it then you need to start thinking about how you're going to get there.

One of the first things I do with my clients is work with them to set a clear ideal in mind of where they want to be in a certain time period. Then we'll look at exactly what it will take to get them there. If it's unrealistic then we'll have to play around with elements of the goal until we have something that fits. Once they know exactly what they need to do each day to get to their ideal it's easy enough to stick to their plan.

Enlist as much support as possible. Get your friends and family involved and do it together or look for a community to give you support, advice and the knowledge that someone else is doing it with you. There's lots of online forums, or you could look at joining, (or creating) a group who are working towards the same goals.

So if you haven't already got your goals planned out, go do it and know that this time you're going to get there!