It can be hard sometimes to stay motivated while on your diet. Every time you begin to fall off the wagon, you need to have a few things you do to get yourself back on track. We’ll over some of these.

The first thing to do, when you start your diet as well as when you begin to fall off of it, is to set realistic weight loss goals.  Afterall, if you’re expecting to lose 10 pounds the first week, you’ll never be able to reach your goal and in result, you’ll be discouraged and not want to keep working out.  To think of some realistic goals, you must first think about how much time you’ll have to exercise, the type of exercises, the kind of food you’re prepared to diet on, etc.

If you work long, 14 hour shifts and don’t feel like going to the gym everyday, you’ll have to have much lower goals than someone who has the ability to.

Secondly, vary your routine.  Assuming you do exercise on your diet routinely, there will come a day when you’re bored, tired, and just don’t feel like doing the same thing you did yesterday.  In these dark times, you need to keep exercising, but switch what you’re doing.  Instead of running on the treadmill, ride a bike, play a round of golf, basketball, etc.

Stay active, but vary from the norm.

Lastly, have consequences if you don’t work out.  It may sound harsh, but you’re looking to lose weight for a particular reason — healthier lifestyle to live longer, look better, be able to be more active, etc.  You need to face facts with yourself and if you’re one of those people (you’re certainly not alone) that are more than a few dozen pounds overweight, you need to tell yourself that not working out will make you gain even more weight, it could lead to possible diseases like heart disease or diabetes, you’ll have a lower quality of life, and sadly, but most importantly:  you might die.

5, 10, or 20 years from now you don’t want to think back and realize that only 30 minutes on the treadmill a day could’ve saved you (and even if your family) from a life long bout with being overweight and the hurt that comes with it.