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Consistency in Workout Routines and Achieving Goals

This is an excerpt from Total Body Beautiful by Andrea Orbeck,Desi Bartlett & Nicole Stuart.

Being consistent can often be the determining factor in achieving your goals for your workouts and fitness routines. Staying consistent over a long period of time will give you results. Most of us know this, yet the follow-through can be difficult and a determining factor. Scheduling is a factor of consistency. Make your workouts fit into your schedule: Write it down, schedule around it, and make it work for you whenever it is best. Wake up earlier or stay up later, or do 15 minutes on your lunch break. Repetition is the active part of being consistent by doing something over and over. This is a great way to learn many things, including how to live a healthy lifestyle. Many great artists work on one painting for years, changing their vision of the work over time. It has been said that Leonardo da Vinci worked on the Mona Lisa for four years, maybe longer. You are your own Mona Lisa; keep working to create your masterpiece! Once we have a deeper understanding of ourselves, we can get out of our own way a little more to move forward and stay consistent. It takes time and patience more than anything else to stay out of our own way.

If results don’t come fast enough, most people stop. Remember that there are many things that contribute to getting results; one of these is the differences in women’s bodies. One woman might lose five pounds in a week, and another woman could take a month to lose five pounds, both following the exact same plans. Try to think of it as science: Did Edison create the light bulb in three weeks? Was the Statue of Liberty constructed in two months? The answer to both of these questions is no. These developments took time, extensive thought, and planning.

Our bodies can be looked at in the same way, in theory. We must build that lasting foundation within ourselves mentally and physically. In addition, with women’s bodies, there are many factors to take into consideration, such as hormonal shifts in pregnancy, perimenopause, and menopause, as well as thyroid function. Staying consistent is a crucial factor. We must keep trying until we get the equation that works for each and every one of us. But how do we do that when there are no magic tricks, no quick fixes, and no specific rules to follow? We focus on what we have: suggestions, tools, and information that have been proven to get results with clients we have worked with. Some combination of those tools and suggestions can work for you too!

More Excerpts From Total Body Beautiful

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