Sick of falling off your fitness plan? Check out my simple fitness tips that will keep you focused and making progress:

Get your workouts in early in the day.

By working out earlier in the day, there’s better chance you don’t have the excuses you’ll have by the end of it. You might feel like the last thing you want to do after a long day of work is head to the gym. By working out first thing, you kick off your day the right way from the start. Plus, by getting it in early, you might make better decisions through the remaining part of the day. All these things will help speed up your progress.

Hit your least favorite muscle group at the beginning of the week.

By getting the hardest workouts in at the start of the week, it only gets better from there. You can then look forward to the rest of your workouts that week. Plus, it takes away the opportunity to skip that workout if it was later in the week.

Measure your progress with the right criteria in order to stay focused.

Give yourself a realistic timeframe to see your body change and then measure that. Watch how you clothes are fitting and try using body composition measurements or body circumference measurements, instead of the body weight scale, for more accurate reading of progress. After all, it’s about how your body SHAPE is changing, not simply your cumulative weight (weight of your muscle, organs, blood, fat, bones, etc). Do these measurements sparingly as doing them too frequently will lesson the dramatic effect of your progress.

Partner up.

Find someone who has a similar goal and help each other out. Go to the gym with them together, exchange fitness tips, and make sure you’re both consistently making good decisions. You can be each other’s support system and hold each other accountable.

Throw away ALL of the junk food in the house.

No, seriously — throw it all away. Get that temptation out of there FAST! If it’s not in front of your face, you won’t have the opportunity to consume it. Junk food will only fast-track your derailment if you give it a chance to. Replace all this junk with some fresh whole foods and you’ve multiplied your chances of success.

Drink as much water as you can.

Chances are, even after you do this tip, you still don’t drink enough water. Most people walk around dehydrated all day, which slows down metabolism, leading to unwanted weight gain down the road. Drinking large amounts of water will actually help flush excess water and help reduce bloating. Aim at drinking roughly your body weight in ounces of water.

Schedule your workout on your calendar.

You need to make fitness a priority if you want to stand a chance at reaching your goals. There’s a good chance you’ll never FEEL like working out and eating healthy so you must learn to do this on purpose until you learn the behavior of it. Appointments with your gym, in your calendar, work great — especially if you work well with appointments.

Tell your friends or family about your goals so they keep you to it.

By having a support system around you, your chances of sticking with the program become much easier. On the contrary, if you’re around people that don’t care about their health and fitness, you might be dragged into their bad habits and poor choices. Make sure your friends or family know about your goals and that they follow up to make sure you’re doing what you said you would.

Buy some clothes that are the size you want to be.

This is an ambitious way to set your goal. Have the clothes in a place you can see them so you know what your target is. When you finally achieve your goal, you are then rewarded with the chance to wear these clothes!

Schedule a photo shoot at a set date in the future for your “after” pictures.

With this goal, you have a finish line to aim at. You can stay focused knowing you’re documenting your journey. Stay on track and put the pedal down to see what you’re really capable of.

Schedule a vacation.

This is where you can enjoy your new body and show off your hard work. This one also has a finish line to aim for. Pick some place tropical, if you dare. That will definitely keep the fire lit under you to make some serious progress.

Follow a solid fitness program and make your goal to do perfect each day.

By having a solid plan to follow, it takes the guess work out of it. Trust the process and you’ll be able to give it your all, while keeping your stress (and cortisol) at it’s lowest. You want to keep stress down because stress can cause you to over-eat, store fat, and make it harder to get the unwanted weight off.

Take each day one day at a time.

This makes it more manageable. Have you heard the phrase “fitness is a marathon, not a sprint”? Well, it’s true — fitness takes time. One way to make that less intimidating is to break it up into more bite-sized pieces. Make a goal for each day and make that goal achievable. String together enough days and you’ll be at your overall goal before you know it.

Hire a personal trainer.

This is to keep you accountable and make sure you stay true to your goals. This is probably the most effective way to stay on track. A good trainer could wrangle together many of these fitness tips to make sure you optimize your motivation and progress. Between having scheduled sessions, a solid personalized plan, someone to assess and measure your progress, you’ll be off to a good start right from the beginning.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of fitness tips, but it should get you started. Stay consistent, work hard, and don’t give up on your program or on yourself and you’ll see results. If you still need some direction and a solid plan, I’m here to help. Join me on our Facebook group for more personalized fitness tips.