Find Support

People have many different reasons for beginning a fitness program. One of the most common reasons is the desire to lose weight. Another common reason is for the health benefits. Often these two reasons go hand in hand. Your doctor may say in order to get healthy or stay healthy you need to start an exercise program. The program can help with your cardiovascular system and with weight loss. Others may start a program for the purpose of building muscle to achieve a more well toned body. Individuals who are looking for the toned body, probably are not in the position where they are pursuing a program for health benefits. They probably are in good physical shape already and are trying to advance themselves.

Whatever your reason for starting a program the one thing that is very important is your support system. The most logical support system would be your family. If you are trying to lose weight, different things that family members do can have an effect on the whole process. If your husband is sabotaging your whole plan by bringing home hot fudge sundaes, your plan will most likely fall apart. You will need to involve your family so that they know what your goal action plan are. There is nothing more discouraging than having your children snicker at you while you are trying to do a kickbox DVD. They need to understand that this is important to you and they need to respect what you are doing. One thought is to challenge them to try the workout with you and then see if they snicker when they stumble over some of the moves that you have mastered.

You may feel a need for outside support whether your family is supportive or not. Sometimes support from our peers is very valuable. A group of people that are experiencing the same thing that you are can very helpful and sometimes a source of motivation. You can find this type of support by joining a gym or a weight loss group similar to Weight Watchers. There are several sources of support online. There are a number of online websites and discussion forums where people with similar goals can meet and discuss common problems and solutions. I belong to an online forum called MyFitnessFriends.com that I have found to be very supportive to forum members. It is a discussion forum with several different topics involving fitness and weight loss. Another source of support that I have encountered is BeachBody.com.

There are online calorie and activity calculators like Fitday.com that many have found helpful. Weight Watchers is now available online also.

When choosing a support system you need to consider what they have to offer. A gym will have instructors and trainers. They usually have classes in nutrition and group fitness. You can make friends at the gym who will support you. An online forum can offer friendship and support from other members. Some websites that have a membership fee offer mealplans, calorie counters, online support such as live chats and discussion forums. Beachbody offers all of these and members are sometimes offered product discounts. My membership fee this year was $25.00 but it included a $25.00 gift certificate so basically it was free. You can do an online search to see what else is offered out there. Sparkpeople.com is another website that offers everything that Beachbody does with no fees and no products to tempt you.

So the decision is yours. Check out the options. I am sure that there is something out there that can give you the support and motivation that you need.

Buy a dog

One good way to help yourself with an exercise program is get yourself a dog. Not necessarily the one in the picture, but any dog will do. That is one of my dogs. My daughter took his picture in "high flight". If you live in the city and you have a dog, you have no choice but to walk the dog. This helps both you and the dog to stay in shape. Those of us with large fenced in yards have to work harder to get ourselves out that front door with Rover but when they get us out, they are so thrilled to be out and about in the neighbourhood. One of my dogs fights for the all of the leashes. I think he wants to do the walking.

If you happen to be lucky enough to buy a retriever, get ready for many a ball toss. I have had 2 dogs that had retriever as part of their heritage and they loved to play catch. Our dog Bear loves to play ball. He brings it back as he should but then the game is to get him to release the ball.

No matter what type of dog you choose, they will be your best friend forever if you get outside with them and walk them around the neighbourhood. Catch with a ball or frisbee can be great exercise for both you and Spot. Dogs can also be therapeutic. The rehab at my hospital, has volunteer dogs come to see the patients. The patients seem to have a quicker recovery when they are visited by dogs.

And how can you be down when you have someone like Beagle, pictured above, giving you his winning smile and support.

Challenge Yourself

One way to get back into shape is to set a goal that you see as a challenge. My husband decided several years ago that he was going to run a marathon. Every year he would start to train in the spring for a marathon that was in the fall. Somehow though, he managed to injure himself every year before his marathon and he would decide not to register for it. Two years ago he paid the fee to run in the marathon but a few weeks before he suffered from another injury so he withdrew.

Last year he started training again for the marathon. I did a lot of research on how to train for a marathon. With the resources that I found for him and with the help of an excellent sports therapist, who is a good friend, he ran his marathon. He ran 26 miles in a little over 4 hours at the age of 49. When I brought him home he really did not feel well. He was probably dehydrated although he did have water through most of the marathon. I think running 26 miles would have that effect on anyone no matter how hard they trained. He did not want to run a marathon again. A few hours after he rested he realized that he had accomplished his goal and was contemplating doing it again.

I'm not suggesting that everyone train for a marathon but there are a lot of opportunities to make a goal a reality. You could participate in a walkathon or a bikathon. Every year there are 5 K runs that individuals could participate in. There is always the option to run or to walk in most 5K runs so you do not need to set your goal too high at first.

Once you decide on a challenge, then you can start working towards it. Start slow and gradually work your way progressively toward your goal. If something happens along the way and you are unable to reach the goal that you set, don't feel bad. Just think of what you accomplished in your journey towards that goal. You might want to examine your goal and determine whether you set your goal a bit too high. At that point, you can reset the goal and start again. The journey through fitness sometimes takes us back to the beginning however, it is not time to give up. Reassess your goals, establish your action plan and start working toward that goal again. The satifasfaction of finally reaching your goal makes all the work that you have done worth it.