I am so, so sorry...

Dear Body,

I have no idea why I let us get like this, or how I managed to kid myself for the past few years that we still looked and felt good. I don't lie to other people, so why have I lied to us?

I know what it is; I have been maintaining the same eating habits we had when we were super-fit and on the go all the time. We went from swimming five days a week, to gym three times a week & cycling 6-10 miles a day (five days a week), to walking four miles a day, five days a week, to.....practically nothing.

15 Tips for Staying on Track: #9 - Strategies for Success

Use visual aids, understand your ‘danger zones’, keep records, read success stories, look at people’s before and after pictures, hang up your skinny jeans in a prominent place to remind you what you’re aiming for, keep photos of yourself at your ideal weight/size on the ‘fridge (or photos of a body you’d like to have!).

Make a My Virtual Model progress image....

Do whatever it takes to help you achieve your goal!

15 Tips for Staying on Track: #8 - Be determined, be stubborn!

No one ever achieved anything without enthusiasm and determination.

Determination is what keeps us going when our enthusiasm wanes. And determination is what helps us to push through our barriers, out of our comfort zone, toward that new and exciting horizon.

  Image source: http://becomingprince.blogspot.com/

15 Tips for Staying on Track: #7 - Where's Your Carrot?

I'm talking about motivation of course!

It actually takes relatively little time to burn off fat. You need to burn around 3,500 calories to shift a pound of fat – this can be done in a week! It generally takes less time to lose the excess than it took to gain it – isn’t that a great thought? In my opinion, nothing breeds motivation like success, so do employ strategies to help you have tangible evidence of your own success.

Image Source: a friend of he:משתמש גילגמש.

15 Tips for Staying on Track: #6 - Understand your body

You will often hear people say that you should only weigh yourself once a week. Or once a month. Or every six weeks. Or not at all. While all of these statements have merit (particularly if you are the kind of person who is likely to become de-motivated by a perceived gain or lack of a loss), in my opinion, one of the keys to successfully getting healthy is to understand your body.

Michelangelo's David

15 Tips for Staying on Track: #5 - Support and Proactive Diversity

I cannot stress enough how important this is. It’s not enough to have the support of your loved ones (although obviously this is pretty much essential too) - you need the support of peers; people who are on a similar journey to you. It doesn’t matter whether they have 20lbs or 200lbs to lose, you have a shared aim, and you’ll probably experience similar pitfalls and triumphs. Why not join an online community, such as My Fitness Pal, where you will ‘meet’ people from across the world, from all walks of life?

Source unknown

15 Tips for Staying on Track: #4 - Photos and Tape Measures!

As painful as it is to do, take photos of your progress. Please don’t shy away from it because otherwise you'll regret not having a record of all of your hard work. Take front, side and back photos, then date them and file them away...for now. Take photos every couple of weeks or every month. Then start to compare them.

15 Tips for Staying on Track: #3 - Weigh To Go!

Weigh your food and count your calories!

OK, if you are doing WW, then you don’t need to count calories but you do still need to weigh your food. A set of Digital Scales means you have no excuse for over-estimation!

15 Tips for Staying on Track: #2 - Log, log, and keep on logging!

Keep track of everything you eat or drink, especially little nibbles – they soon mount up. Not only will you be able to see which areas can be improved, but you’ll see a pattern to your eating habits.

15 Tips for Staying on Track: #1 - Define Your Goals!

What is it you are trying to achieve? To get down to a certain weight? To be fit? To be more healthy? To tone up? To run a 5k? To run a marathon? To get a new job? To change your entire career? To be more organised? To be happy?

What exactly is it you are aiming for?