Speed Up Your Weight Loss – Use Your Competitive Instinct To Hit Your Goals Faster!

Healthy Competition could be just that – Healthy! Build a competitive element into your Fitness Plan or Program and right into each of your Workout Routines and you’re more likely to get faster results than simply drifting along and ‘going through the motions’.

We tend to think that fitness and health is primarily a physical matter.  Guidance on a healthier lifestyle, or on how to lose weight is too often over simplified into advice about what to do in the gym, or what to eat and what not to eat.  This is all important of course (and sometimes a bit boring!), but to have any real chance of success, your head needs to be in the game as much, if not more than your body.

I’m really talking about motivation.  Most people are motivated enough to recognize that they want to change the way they are living.  A lot of people will do something about it.  Of course it’s important to get your trainers on and get out there, or “just do it” in the words of the advert.  But if you want a healthier lifestyle to last, spend some time thinking about what motivates and moves you.  Why do you want to be healthier? Why do you want to lose weight?

Healthy Competition could be just that - Healthy!

Healthy Competition could be just that - Healthy!

Long Term Motivation

It might be because you feel you owe it to yourself.  You might want to look better, feel better.  You might want to be healthier for the sake of your family.  The benefits of a healthier lifestyle are so numerous that everyone should be able to find a number of reasons to motivate themselves into positive action – better sleep patterns, better heart health, leaner physique, the list goes on.  These are fundamental reasons why you would want to improve your fitness and nutrition, and by focusing on them they will help you stay motivated.  It may even be a good idea to write down your underlying reasons so that you can come back to them when you feel like you need a boost.

Short and Medium Term Goals

Competition can also be a powerful ally in the battle to stay motivated.  That doesn’t mean to say that you have to be winning or even entering competitions, but if you have some short and medium term goals, they can help you stay focused, and just give you that extra edge and desire to get out there and train, and to stay on track with good diet.  The important thing is that any competitive edge you seek is based on you.  What I mean by that is your short term and medium term goals should be based on you testing yourself to meet goals that are achievable by you.  Whether that is running a certain distance, or cycling your regular route in a specific time, a goal like this can push you to higher levels.

You may even want to enter into a local event such as a running race.  But remember, do the race for you and push yourself to do your best, don’t worry too much about your placing or how anyone else does.  Everyone likes to win and do well, but ultimately your cause is greater than that, and it depends on you and your continued motivation.  If you base your motivation on competition with others, it can be vulnerable for reasons over which you have no control.  Having been a competitive athlete for many years, I know how much of a knock your confidence can take if you lose a game or a race you expected to win.  Assess your performance on factors you have control over, and you will see a steady improvement.  Compete with yourself, and the results will speak for themselves.