Maintaining a healthy weight is extremely important for your overall health. There are many benefits to losing those excess kilos, such as eliminating major risks for chronic diseases in the future, for example. The challenge is not to realise that you need to lose weight, but to make up your mind to lose weight. Consider this scenario: each month you think of joining the gym, but you never get around to it. If you are in the bad habit of making up excuses for not having a weight loss plan, here are several tips that might help you stay motivated:

Start Slow

Don’t jump into a major exercise program that requires a lot of commitment. If you have trouble staying on track, the best way to go about this is to start slow. The whole idea behind a weight loss program is to develop good habits that help you keep excess kilos at bay permanently. You can engage in a rigorous program for a few weeks and lose a few kilos. But if couple of months later you are back to your older eating habits, that lost weight would return with a vengeance. Therefore, do things that you can gradually include in your life so you can maintain a healthy weight throughout your life.

Try the Fat Camp

It can be difficult to start on a weight loss program on our own. To see what it’s like and to get professional advice, consider going on one of the many reputed fitness retreats in Australia. The new retreats are not actually like the infamous fat camps of the old. You will be placed within a supportive structure that will guide you towards good habits. You will be able to eat wholesome and healthy foods, instead of spending the break time dieting and starving. You will also get to try new physical activities as a starter course before hitting the gym. There are many benefits to this so seriously consider it.

Reward Yourself for Good Behaviour

Develop a reward system to treat yourself when you do something according to plan, such as going to the gym instead of staying home and watching Netflix. However, be careful when choosing rewards. Don’t treat yourself with sugary foods, of course. Find rewards that are equally satisfying but doesn’t contribute to further weight gain. For example, you can treat yourself to a movie at the end of the week if you stick to the exercise plan. Find rewards that drive you to maintain your motivation throughout the program.

Ditch Those Lofty Goals

Don’t set lofty goals that are a bit too ambitious, such as losing this amount of weight by this time, or completely eliminating sugar from your diet. Lofty goals typically don’t last. Therefore, focus on progress instead of perfection. Don’t obsess over running on the treadmill for 30 minutes if you can only manage to do 10. The fact that you did 10 minutes over the previous zero minutes should be the focus of your program.

Last but not least, stop feeling bad about yourself. Stop hating your body and comparing yourself to your skinny friends’ Instagram pictures or celebrities on magazine covers. Don’t think about how you will never look a certain way. Instead, focus on staying healthy. Lose weight for yourself, not for anyone else.