Guest Post: Getting Back on Track with Health and Fitness

If either becoming more active or getting into better shape are on your list of things to do or continue in 2020, this guest article about staying accountable will help set you on the right course.  If you’re interested in writing a guest article about a specific topic, contact us.  Here is the information we’ve posted on our advertising information page about these kinds of articles:

If you have expertise in particular area, we invite you to share your knowledge with readers in a guest post. These articles provide valuable information to readers while providing you with a byline and link back to your business. You write the article, but we reserve the right to edit for length and clarity if needed. Examples of guest posts could be “5 Fashion Trends to Watch for the Summer Season” or “How to Get Your House Prepped for a Quick Sale.” Topics must be approved in advance, and guest contributors are limited to one article per month.

The following guest article is written by Jilisa Ghareeb.

Around a month ago you said some very inspiring things to yourself.

“This is my year!”
“I am going to save money!”
“I am going to lose weight and get in shape!”
“I am going to eat healthy!”
“I am going on a dream vacation!”

Those are all great things to say yourself.  Heck maybe you even told a few friends and they cheered you on.  Those first few weeks you may have gone to the gym, put a few bucks in the bank and eaten some extra veggies.  But around week 3 you started to lose that momentum, the motivation that you had just a couple of weeks ago.  A few days went by with nothing happening and by week 4 you gave up.

Now you feel defeated and you just don’t have the motivation to continue.  The reason for this is because you made a big mistake.  When you said those things to yourself that is all you did.  You didn’t take the next steps and write them down, create a plan and act.

Let’s mentally erase the last month and start fresh right now.   I am going to use the example of losing weight.  You say to yourself “I want to lose 30 pounds!”  But as you just found out in the last month saying it to yourself and just hoping that it will happen doesn’t work.  Let’s go over what steps you could do that will give you results.

1. Write your goal down. Put in on your fridge, stick it on the bathroom mirror, make it your wallpaper on your phone.  Put it everywhere and anywhere that you will see it every day!
2. Write out an action plan.
   1. What can I do to start? You know that losing 30 pounds is a big deal and that it is not going to happen in just a few weeks. You need to break it down into small reasonable chunks.
   2. How much weight do you think you could lose in a week…1 or 2 pounds?
   3. Think about your daily routine: what you eat, what activities you do. Then write out how you could tweak what you are doing. If you drink 2-3 pops a day scale back to one and replace it with flavored water.  Could you wake up a little earlier/watch less tv in the evening and add in some intentional movement.
3. Share your action plan with an accountability partner and plan to check in with them once a week. If you don’t have an accountability partner, then check in with yourself.
4. Take your plan and ACT on it. Waste no time and start today.  No need to wait until the 1^st of the month or a Monday.  Any day that ends with a ‘y’ is a good day to start!

Don’t overwhelm yourself.  The old adage of taking it one day at a time is a good one.  Your long-term goal of losing 30 pounds or having 6 months of savings in the bank may seem like a huge unattainable goal (at first) but I am here to tell you that You’ve Got This!  With small daily changes you will get there. The small changes add up and sooner than you think you will be making big changes.

The key to your success is consistency! That leads to discipline and that surpasses motivation.  There are going to be days where there is no motivation, but you are going to stick your plan because discipline tells you to do it anyway.

We all know that the reward is greater when we put in the work.  Set yourself apart from the rest and take action!

Jilisa Ghareeb has been a Beachbody coach for 5 years.  Her favorite part of being involved with fitness and nutrition is watching her clients change and open up a whole new world.  As a coach she, is able to help others by introducing them to a change that is often scary, intimidating and full of “what ifs” to an encouraging and inspirational lifestyle full of “I cans”. She uses her own story to show others that everything is possible with hard work and determination.  If you’re interested in reaching out to Jilisa for more information you can contact her via email ([email protected]), on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/jilisa_ghareeb_cim) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/castironmama)