a skinny woman showing how much weight she's lost by wearing her old jeans

Most people would love to look and feel healthier, which is why there are so many weight-loss programs. With so many programs on the market, why do people still struggle to meet their health and fitness goals?

If you’re looking for a program that will bring you the long-lasting results you crave, then look for the following features.

Sustainable Commitments

Never start eating habits that you can’t commit to for the rest of your life.

Many diets encourage you to eliminate certain food groups from your diet for a certain amount of time in order to drop weight quickly. Others demand unsustainable amounts of exercise. Sometimes, this might work. But do you know what will happen as soon as you add those food groups back into your diet or go back to your normal exercise routine? You’ll probably gain it all back. Studies have shown those who establish habits both to lose the weight and maintain the progress have more long-term success. If you catch yourself thinking, “I am just doing this diet to get jump-started, not long term,” you should likely look for a different program.

Individual Plans

Have you ever tried to go on a diet with a friend and been frustrated when they lost weight faster than you? Have you tried programs that never seemed to get you the promised results even though it worked wonders for your sister-in-law? The fact of the matter is that people are different. Our bodies are different. It only follows that your health and fitness problems should be different, too.

If your health and fitness program isn’t customized to your body, then don’t expect optimized results.

Instruction and Learning

Remember, the goal isn’t simply to lose weight; the goal is to keep it off and build health and fitness throughout your life. If you simply use pre-set meals and regimented workouts without learning how to enact it on your own, what are you going to do when the program ends?

The best programs teach you how to incorporate healthy habits into your life on a long-term basis. Look for an effective plan that has a clear exit strategy.

Regular Accountability

a woman working with her personal trainer

We all want to believe that we will always be able to motivate ourselves to stick to our health and fitness programs. However, experience tells us that is simply not true. If you consider your school, job, or finances, you will see that accountability is a part of our lives.The best fitness plans have accountability to an outside source worked into them.

Regularly checking in with another human being, like a trainer, health coach, etc., can often be the difference between long-term success and burning out.

At Total Health and Fitness, we’ve built a fitness and weight-loss program that is designed for individuals to build a healthy lifestyle that can bring about the results they desire. Contact us today for more information.