Staying motivated for healthy living can be testing when juggling work and family so it can be very helpful to plan well.

In my experience, when realistic and achievable training and dieting goals are set then they can be met which in turn helps to sustain motivation.

How many times have you seen New Year’s resolutions binned after just a few weeks because people try to change too much, too soon.

The motivational buzz of the first week or two can drive the diet plan and the exercise programme while ensuring the bad habits are dropped.

However, as people continue to juggle their day-to-day lives - with the added stress of a whole range of new changes – all the little goals that form a part of the new overarching health and fitness plan can easily become unachievable.

We can become overstretched with the inevitable result that, one by one, the little changes fall by the wayside and motivation finally gives way to apathy.

I’m no expert by any means but this was my experience in the past.

When biting off too much to chew, my drive to achieve health and fitness goals soon dwindled. My motivation steadily collapsed and I slumped back into my old ways.

Thankfully I’ve turned a corner. A few years ago I discovered that the key to the longevity of my motivation was to change just a little every so often. I finally started living by the belief harnessed in the old saying ‘Rome wasn’t built in day’ and gradually achieved many of the goals I had struggled to achieve in the past.

Consistency in ensuring my one simple change was maintained over a period of around one month meant my motivation remained high. My intact motivation was then ploughed into making the next one simple change and so on. Eventually I had made a whole wave of changes and barely even noticed the effort over several months.

What worked for me was taking a firm decision to make one simple change and then relentlessly sticking to it until it became second nature. I have transformed my lifestyle by sticking to the process and really the effort was minimal when compared to my old approach of making a decision to change a load of things all at once.

Why not give it a try. Break down your overall objective into a bite sized and achievable components. Plan well, stick to the plan one day at a time and the results will inspire you to continue. Nothing inspires my motivation more than achieving the results I set out to achieve.

Of course I’m not suggesting we don’t test ourselves – the goals should be challenging. It just may work better if our challenges can slot in to the realities of juggling our day to day living.

For more information on making one simple change get in touch today.