Have you set goals for yourself? While we all have dreams of what we want, both in the present and the future, by setting goals, we put that dream into action. This excites our brain as it begins to fire off neurons, figuring out how to complete the task of making lifestyle changes. This is a key factor in motivation. You must keep the brain stimulated to success.

Do you believe that your goals are attainable? If you’re wishing to drop two sizes, do you have a plan to reduce your weight? You’ll need to figure out how to reduce and burn more calories in order to lose weight. You may need to change your diet and increase your activity level. Your brain must be able to figure out a logical path to succeed, or it will begin to believe that the task is impossible. Once that occurs, you may find yourself losing motivation, and just plain giving up.

Are you committed to your goal? How badly do you want it? If we really want something, and we make the decision to achieve it, we sometimes astound ourselves by our commitment to succeed. It seems as if it has come upon us like magic, but it is our own dedication, our own willingness to make sacrifices, that gives us this ability to stay the course in order to bring about our own personal success.

Though barriers may stand in your way, can you keep your eyes focused on your goal? Do you let everyday occurrences keep you from your commitment or do you persevere no matter what happens? Once you place your goal in the forefront of your life, you will be better able to give it the acknowledgement that is needed for you to achieve it.

Can you celebrate your achievements without regretting the past? Your mind needs that constant reinforcement that it is accomplishing great tasks. Keeping a positive, winning attitude is vital to achieving success. Instead of concentrating on what you haven’t done, or what you can’t do, spend time each day, thinking of all of the things you have accomplished. By the time you get through listing these, your mind will be so super-charged it will be hard for it to get discouraged.

Above all, never stop dreaming, never stop setting goals; these will keep you vibrant and healthy, both mentally and physically. Be good to yourself; make time to do something for yourself each day. This is your life, commit to making it the best.

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Dieting. It’s not one of our favorite words in the English language, but it’s one that most of us come face to face with at one time or another. It evokes images of starving ourselves over salads and rice cakes at lunch while our ever-skinny friend wolfs down a plate full of nachos without a care in the world.

We know that we have to diet. We probably have said to ourselves at some point within the last month or so, “I really need to lose some weight.” So what’s stopping us from starting? Most of the time, the hardest thing about dieting is actually finding the right time to start. If there are sweets or chips in the house, we tell ourselves that we have to wait till everything is finished, and then we’ll start. Or if there is an upcoming celebration we tell ourselves we have to wait till after that event and then we’ll start dieting.

We come up with excuse after excuse not to start our diets and soon before you know it, you now have to lose 15 pounds instead of the 10 you started out with. But it doesn’t have to be this way!

Dieting doesn’t have to be hard. It’s actually pretty simple when you think about it. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. They key is finding low calorie and low fat foods that you enjoy eating. If you hate eating rice cakes… you’re going to have less luck sticking to your diet if that’s all you ever allow yourself to eat.

So before you begin your diet, make a list of all the foods you enjoy. Then go through your list and see if you can make a few adjustments to some dishes that will decrease the amount of fat and calories. If you like tacos, try using low fat cheese, low fat sour cream, and perhaps fish or a lean turkey meat instead.

If you can’t make any adjustments, put that food in your “treat” list. Dieting is all about balance and by allowing yourself a treat every now and then; you will find it much easier to maintain your diet for a longer period of time.

Spend some time in the produce department of your grocery store. Are there fruits or veggies that you really enjoy? These make a great substitute for chips or sweets. Eating a handful of raspberries or blueberries, can be just as satisfying as eating candy, minus the guilt you feel after you gorged on gummy worms. Keep these in your home at all times in plain sight. Don’t hide them in a drawer where you can forget about them. It helps to always keep a fruit bowl handy where you can quickly grab an apple or a peach when you feel the urge to snack.

Dieting doesn’t have to be a chore. With just a few easy changes to what you are already eating, you can begin your diet and stick to it without having to torture yourself with tasteless food.

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Are you the kind of person that commits to a diet once a year as your New Year’s Resolution? You lose the weight, and then as soon as you stop dieting, you gain it all back again? If so, then you’re like thousands of other women out there. You are a seesaw dieter.

As a seesaw dieter, you may drop 15 pounds in a month or two. You starve yourself, push yourself to exercise, and do everything you can possible do to fit into that dress. Usually you have a motivating factor such as a school reunion or a wedding to attend and you want to look your best for people you see once every 10 years. Does this make sense? Shouldn’t you want to look your best all the time?

But you still do it. And then once the event is over, you go back to the life you lived before and say hello to those 15 pounds once again. Why? What is missing in your life that you allow this to happen? The answer is motivation. What motivates you to lose weight? You want to look good for an event… but you could look good all of the time.

Setting yourself goals or rewards can help you lose the weight and keep it off for good. By using this same motivation, you can look great for yourself and the people you see every day! The key is to start out slow. Don’t crash diet. Don’t start running 5 miles a day. This will quickly wear you down and have you back on that seesaw in no time.

Take is slow. Set yourself monthly goals. Take the time to eat right with a diet that you can maintain as a lifestyle, not just a fad. Eating healthy isn’t just a great way to lose weight, it’s a great way to stay fit and healthy and feel good about yourself.

Reward yourself. Try to stay away from food rewards, but if you crave ice cream, it’s ok to indulge yourself at the end of the month… IF you reached your goal. And just because you indulged does not mean your diet is ruined. Too many people give up once they fall off the wagon and give into temptation. Treat each day like a new day to eat right. What you ate yesterday doesn’t matter. What you eat today does.

Promise yourself a shopping trip or a weekend getaway if you reach your goal this month. Treat yourself to a day at the beach or dinner with friends. What do you like to do that you never get to do? If it means spending money, then maybe if you cut out the extra cup of $5 coffee you have every day, you can have some extra cash to burn.

Whatever it is, the key to successful dieting is to find what motivates you, and use that to reward yourself.

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It happens to the best of us; even fitness women who are seasoned athletes experience an idle period in their workout program where it seems like no effective change is taking place. That’s probably because you’ve reached a plateau in your exercise plan and need to rev things up a bit.

Jillian was a young lady who wanted to lose about 25 pounds. She hired a women’s fitness trainer. She was committed to taking the weight off and did great on her diet for the first month. Exercising six days a week, she could feel her body becoming stronger in just the first 30 days. Best of all, she lost a total of 9 pounds. This was more than a third of the weight that she had set out to lose.

Although her fitness trainer cautioned her that she may not see that big of a result every month, Jillian was sorely disappointed when the following month she had only lost an additional 3 pounds. “I don’t understand,” she cried one day, “I’m doing all the same things yet I’m seeing fewer and fewer results.”

Jillian’s fitness trainer could see the writing on the wall. If she didn’t help her client mix things up a bit, Jillian was going to lose all motivation to keep up her diet and fitness plan. If allowed to give up, all of her hard work will have been for nothing. Not to mention the ill effects on her body by bringing her workouts to a complete halt.

The next day, when Jillian showed up at the gym, her trainer had a jump rope and an exercise ball. She taught Jillian some new exercises and showed her how to advance some of her old exercises by using the ball. The jump rope not only provided a fun cardio exercise, but also became an implement for stretching exercises and resistance training.

At the end of the session, Jillian’s fitness trainer presented her with a little book. “It’s your own personal fitness journal and I think you will find that it will help to remind you of all of the hard work and progress that you are making. A journal can be a great asset to keep you motivated, even when your workout becomes stagnate.

Fitness4Her believes that a fitness journal is part of the tried and true trilogy to any successful fitness program. My program has three parts, a diet that you can live with, an exercise plan that’s easy to follow and a journal to show your results. It’s the secret to Empower Beauty® and it’s possible for each and every one of you.

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If you are having trouble getting motivated to start exercising, think about joining a team. This may sound far fetched, but just hear me out. Remember when you were a kid, and played on a team whether it was an organized or a pick up game, camaraderie with other players usually brings out the best in our athletic abilities.

Many past athletes find that as time goes by they’re not as active as they once were. It could be they are just bored with exercise that does not involve a sport. If this describes you, check out the adult sports teams at your local athletic association or private clubs. Tennis, softball, soccer and volleyball are all terrific teams that compete throughout the year.

All of these sports provide excellent cardiovascular benefits, but of course you will want to check with your physician to make sure you are healthy enough to begin a strenuous sport or exercise.

Playing sports is not only fun—it also brings responsibilities that require your dedication and commitment. That’s now it cures the problem with motivation. You want to do it because it’s enjoyable and you feel responsible to do it because of your team members.

That’s right, you owe your team members your very best. After all, that’s the price for the privilege of being a part of a team. The other players depend on you to do your part. They expect you to be on time and be ready to win. There’s no place for excuses when you are one of the chosen few—a part of the team.

To stay in shape and reduce the threat of injuries when playing sports, you need to stretch every day. Flexible muscles help us to move with fluidity, a necessary part of your arsenal when playing to win.

Make resistance training a part of your workout to build muscle and strengthen your body. This too, helps to prevent injuries to your joints and bones. Strong, flexible muscles protect your joints from the stress and strain that is involved in playing sports.

When you take part in the Fitness4Her Diet and Exercise program, you can use the strength training exercises to prepare your body for top-notch performance that any team would be proud of.

Fall and winter are great months for playing outdoor sports, but there are plenty of indoor sports that can be enjoyed year around. The important thing is that you get busy with a fitness program of your choice and don’t delay. Your health is important—it could be a matter of life or death.

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