Deciding to adopt a healthier lifestyle is the first step towards achieving your fitness goals, sticking to them is considerably harder. The unpredictability of day-to-day living means it is understandably difficult to stay focused on your fitness journey.
A 2023 study found that 80% of Brits had given up on their health goals by February but there are some things you can do to see the changes you want. Here are some tips you can use to stick to your health goals and improve your fitness without feeling like you’re forcing yourself:
Choose the Right Goals for You
You don’t need to be too hard on yourself when it comes to getting healthy. By setting realistic and attainable goals for yourself you can keep up your enthusiasm throughout your fitness journey. You can work towards these goals one at a time without feeling overwhelmed by doing it all at once.
Once you’ve met your initial fitness goals, you can work on increasing them. The point is that your goals are achievable for you and that you undertake them at your own pace.
Make it an Everyday Thing
Not all of us have enough time in the day to fit in a rigorous workout but including fitness into your routine, every day is a great way to keep you feeling motivated. Small, consistent actions are better for you and more likely to have an effect than big, infrequent ones. Something as small as going on a daily walk has wondrous physical benefits.
Lingerie specialists Hunkemöller conducted a wellness study on popular social media trends and found that 28% of UK adults have tried a fitness trend. Popular ones included the 30-Day Water Gallon of Water Challenge and Hot Girl Walks. Hot Girl Walks is a TikTok walking trend that encourages walkers to do a daily four-mile walk while listening to a motivational playlist or podcast whilst thinking about how grateful they are.
Hunkemöller found that 20% of participants, including almost a fifth of men, had taken part in the challenge and had a positive experience.
Prioritise Health
It can be difficult not to compare yourself to fitness models or athletes and it’s important to remember that these people have teams of professionals helping them and years of experience. There are some serious side effects of overexercising so resist the urge to overexert past your limits and include rest days into your workout routine.
Hunkemöller found that some online challenges were not for the faint-hearted and impacted every aspect of daily life, like the 75-day Hard Challenge. According to personal trainer James Bickerstaff, continuous exercise without rest days can increase your likelihood of injuries like stress fractures and iliotibial band syndrome so it should be avoided.
Read Also
- Understanding the Impacts of Metabolic Rates on General Health
Your metabolic rate plays a bigger role in your health than you might think. It controls how your body turns food into energy every single day. When metabolism is balanced, you may feel more active and focused. If it slows down or speeds up too much, problems can appear. It can affect weight, energy levels,… Read more: Understanding the Impacts of Metabolic Rates on General Health - When to Take Your Child to the Pediatrician vs. Urgent Care: A Practical GuideFew parenting decisions feel more uncertain than the one made at 9 PM with a feverish toddler in your lap. Is this a wait-until-morning situation? A drive-to-urgent-care situation? A call-the-pediatrician’s-after-hours-line situation? Knowing the framework for these decisions cuts down on stress, reduces unnecessary trips, and makes sure your child gets the right care at the… Read more: When to Take Your Child to the Pediatrician vs. Urgent Care: A Practical Guide
- Well-Child Visits Explained: What Happens at Each Checkup and Why They MatterWell-child visits are one of the most useful — and most underestimated — tools in pediatric care. Many parents think of them as a vaccination delivery system, but they’re actually structured developmental checkpoints designed to catch issues early, track healthy growth, and give parents a regular opportunity to ask questions about everything from sleep to… Read more: Well-Child Visits Explained: What Happens at Each Checkup and Why They Matter
- Sprained Ankle vs. Fracture: How to Tell the Difference and What to Do NextA rolled ankle is one of the most common injuries in everyday life — a missed step on a curb, an awkward landing during a pickup game, a slip on uneven ground. Most of the time it’s a sprain that heals with rest. Sometimes it’s actually a fracture, and the two can be surprisingly hard… Read more: Sprained Ankle vs. Fracture: How to Tell the Difference and What to Do Next
- Plantar Fasciitis, Bunions, and Heel Pain: When Conservative Care Isn’t EnoughFoot pain is often dismissed as a nuisance — something to push through, stretch out, or ignore until it goes away. And in fairness, many cases do resolve with rest, better shoes, and basic stretching. But certain conditions can quietly worsen for months or years before patients seek help, by which point conservative options have… Read more: Plantar Fasciitis, Bunions, and Heel Pain: When Conservative Care Isn’t Enough
- Is Joint Replacement Right for You? Questions to Ask Before SurgeryJoint replacement is one of the most successful procedures in modern medicine — but it’s still major surgery, and it’s not the right answer for everyone. If chronic hip or knee pain has reached the point where you’re considering replacement, the questions you ask before scheduling can shape your outcome as much as the procedure… Read more: Is Joint Replacement Right for You? Questions to Ask Before Surgery
