5 Fitness Tips For Staying On Track

Hi loves! Is heading to the gym hard? Here are my 5 fitness tips for staying on track and boy do I need them now. I haven’t been to the gym in over 2 weeks due to my traveling and needed a reminder for staying on track with my fitness goals. These are 5 tips I use on a daily basis and hope it can help keep you on track as well. Enjoy!

Stay Motivated

I know this one can seem SO SO hard, but I think it’s the most important tip of ALL to stay on track of your goals. Everyone has different reason for getting fit. It can be a lifestyle change you personally want for yourself, it can medically or hereditarily brought on due to obesity and the medical issues that can present itself or just bad genes, it can even be you want to get revenge on someone who made you feel like your body wasn’t good enough.

Whatever your reason is, you need to remind yourself consistently of that reason. I personally have a note on my calendar I see EVERYDAY and follow people who inspire me with their bodies and journeys to achieve that. That note can seem so small but the effect is MONUMENTAL with staying on track!

Every day I wake up, looking at that note and reminding myself to make a healthy shake over grabbing a piece of bread that’s quick and easy. Make yourself a note, an alarm, a daily reminder, anything to keep you motivated on what you set out for yourself.

Celebrate your Small Wins

This one is the FUN tip! I don’t actually consider a win losing weight, because I’m trying to build muscle and lose fat. The muscle weighs more so I actually can gain weight with my program. My small wins are fitting into clothes that I normally would shy away from or looking better in my clothes without having to hide my body and cover anything up.

I recently did a detox plan along with a steady diet and regular exercise and tried on an old pair of pants that used to be so unflattering in the stomach area. I just never wore them and GUESS WHAT? Now they fit amazing, I’m actually confident in leaving the house in them.

If your plan is to lose weight, celebrate the first 5 pounds you lost, EMBRACE it! Now I don’t mean celebrate and throw everything out the window but have a glass of wine or a small cup of ice cream. YOU DESERVE IT! I found by doing this it keeps you motivated and staying on track to get to the end result.

You saw a bit of progress you probably though wasn’t EVEN possible and hit it. Keep going and keep pushing and celebrating those wins to achieve YOUR ultimate goal! These smalls win help you to stay motivated and stay on track. Acknowledge them, celebrate them.

Download an App

Not just any app, but one that helps you monitor your eating habits and work-outs. There are plenty out there like MyFitnessPal that are free and extremely helpful. Now I don’t count calories, but it’s good to know what you’re putting into your body and how much are you or not.

If you’re counting calories, these apps are a MUST then for you. You can even scan foods and see the nutritional value to each, or count how many glasses of wine you can have before knowing you’re work out better be the toughest one yet. Staying on track is the main goal and these apps do just that.

Reasons to LOVE these apps

• Monitor water intake daily.
• Monitors EVERY food, drink, alcohol you consume to help you see what foods you might want to avoid and which to keep around.
• Monitors amount of carbs, protein and fats you’ve consumed so you can be balanced.
• Tracks your workouts. (another reminder to actually go workout for a day)

To me, I use these apps as a guide. Fitness tips for staying on track, it is this. I also strongly believe in the power of visually seeing what I’m eating, drinking or NOT and make my adjustments as need be. There are so many tools to use now-a-days that it’s almost a crime if you don’t. Help yourself get to the point you’re happy looking into the mirror and LOVING what you see, whatever that shape is.

Consistent Workouts

This is kind of no brainer, but sometimes we see a little progress and tend to not go as much to the gym anymore or go as hard. I’ve done it plenty of times with CrossFit. Don’t feel bad, we’ve all been there. Just find something you love! I can’t go to a gym and workout, I usually get either hit on or told I should do this instead of that, it’s too crowded, or I just get bored after 30 minutes.

I knew for myself to get to where I’m happy, I needed a change. That same day I realized this, I quit my gym membership and signed up for CrossFit. Now I’m not staying CrossFit is for everyone. If going to the gym is YOUR thing, DO IT! If Zumba is fun, exciting, and helps you lose weight, DO IT!

The point I’m trying to make is if you love the workouts you’re doing, the style of training is perfect for you and allows yourself to be pushed, and the coach/trainer/instructor is a motivator to you. KEEP THEM! This will make your workouts COUNT. This will motivate YOU to keep going, this will PUSH you!

My coaches know me ALL too well and consistently push me to go heavier, go faster, jump higher, because they know I can. I need someone who is going to yell at me to keep moving even when I want to stop. I LOVE the family of CrossFit, I love my box members, I even love most of the coaches except when there is running involved. HA-HA

 CrossFit

In all honesty, I’ve kept my membership with CrossFit Liger for 3 years because of the change I’ve seen in my body, because of the motivation I see every day in that box to get better. Yes, there are athletes who want to go on and compete in the CrossFit Open (Shout out to any readers who are about to compete, go kick some butt!)

There are also athletes who just want to fit in with a family and try something new and start a new lifestyle. You get every type of person and all with different goals but the programming just works and everyone reaches those goals on their own terms.

It took me 3 years to go from a 10 inch box to a 20 inch box, I was actually scared, but my coach who I’ve known for 3 years was like “Okay time to grow to the big kids box and if you fall I’ll be right here to catch you” I trusted him, jumped and then realized I didn’t fall and stood up and was like “oh okay.”

It sometime is a mind over matter belief but he believed in my ability and knew I could do it, I was just too scared to try. He helped me overcome that fear and now I’m building to 24 inches. You have to push yourself regularly to keep going if not you become stagnant and won’t see the change anymore.

Make Your Workouts

If you prefer to be in the comfort of your own home while changing your body you can! There’s so many companies who do streaming services now, because of having kids or you have more flexibility to workout at your time. You can even follow other fitness accounts and most post their workouts.

With the programming already done for me at CrossFit Liger. I don’t have to worry about what my workout is, but when I travel or can’t make it to the gym… I simply improvise my workout with moves I’ve done before. Fitness tips for staying on track involve you. You have to put in the work.

Meal-Prepping

Fitness tips for staying one track are hard and this is by far the hardest one: meal prep. I can honestly say when I prepped my meals, I noticed a quicker difference in my body than without.  Personally, I always found an excuse not to meal prep. There’s not enough time. I live at home with my parents and they’re using the kitchen. I’m vegetarian and it’s harder to prep.

“There’s time in the morning.” WRONG! It never happens and I just don’t do it. I took the accountability on myself. I WAS making every excuse you could think of and now I switched my mindset and have a specific goal I want to hit, so I’m setting myself up to WIN! Diets, fitness goals, abs, they are all MADE in the kitchen. It’s true! 80% of your fitness journey is accomplished by what you consume and 20% by your workouts.

Like I said, 3 years of CrossFit and yes I leaned out, grew muscle, but know I could have been much further along if I just ate properly and took the time to prep. The way I started to think about meal prepping is like making an investment on myself.

Am I not worth the extra hour to become who I want to be, a healthier, fitter me? The answer is yes! Always COUNT ON YOU, because if you don’t who will? I actually set myself a reminder each Sunday morning to go out and buy groceries to meal prep for the week. Whatever works right?

Final Thoughts

Finally, I guess it’s an extra tip, have fun! Enjoy the journey. My fitness tips for staying on track are to help you, not make or break you. I found confidence in myself during my fitness journey. A passion in training. A way to reduce all the stress and anxiety of everyday life and even found a serenity in cooking. The bottom line is you have to want it.

If you don’t, it’s just not going to work out. (Pun intended) I didn’t go to the gym for a week and honestly when I went back Monday it was amazing. I was looking forward to my workout all day and excited to be back. This is the happiness I need. You can find it too. If you love cooking, cook for yourself your favorite dishes. Go on Pinterest and find new recipes.

Love the journey because eventually that journey turns into your life. I can’t imagine leaving my gym, I can’t imagine what I would do without that family. My fitness journey became my life in the sense that I want to be a better me, a healthier me, a stronger me every day. Find that and trust me when you do, it’s a life changing moment.

Please share any of your tips, stories, or inspirations.

XOXO

Karen Giuliana

Karen Bardales

Hello loves, welcome to my blog! My name is Karen Giuliana Bardales and I am currently 31 years old. I was born New Jersey and raised in Florida, graduated from Florida Atlantic University and still residing in sunny South Florida.

The reason for my blog is to write about my experiences from traveling, the beauty industry, fitness and other things I love. I want to help inspire others through my personal experiences and be seen as a role model to young woman everywhere.

Thank you for reading and following along through my journey of life. Your support means everything to me, so thank you!

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