This is an age-old question that has no definitive answer as it changes from person to person.

Finding the correct answer for you will be the key to success not only in the gym but if you can replicate it into everyday life too.

Here are a couple of simple questions you can ask yourself to set yourself a goal to motivate you to complete your health and fitness goals:

1. What do I want to achieve?
2. Why do I want to achieve this?
3. In what time frame do I want to achieve this? (If you are unsure if it is achievable within this time frame then ask a member of gym team and they will be able to guide you on this).

Once the above 3 questions have been answered then in my opinion should set you up with enough motivation to start you upon your journey, but you will also want to set up some shorter term goals that will keep you motivated and on track to achieve your final goal.

For example lets say the answers to the above questions are:

1. I want to lose 2 stone.
2. Because I want to look and feel better before going on my summer holiday.
3. 3 months in time for my holiday.

The above answers all seem fine but 3 months is a long time to keep motivated without having some short-term goals to hit along the way. These short-term goals won’t only keep you motivated to smash your final goal but will also let you keep track of progress along the way too.

So with a few minutes spent working out how much total weight I would need to lose in the amount of time I can set out goals along the way. So in this example I would need to lose 28 pounds in 12 weeks to achieve my goal. This means that I would need to average 2.3 pounds per week or 9.3 pounds per month to achieve this. So I would say to myself after month 1 I need to have lost 9.3 pounds and then at week 8 18.6 pounds and the same again to reach 28 pounds (it is actually just over 2.3 pounds per week to make the maths work or we would end up at 27.9 pounds but you get the picture!)

Personally with my clients I would try not to be fixated on the weekly number other than as a guide for the total monthly loss. The reason for this is that I would be very surprised if anyone lost the exact same amount of weight each week, more likely is that some weeks you will lose more than 2.3 pounds and some weeks you will lose less than 2.3 pounds so the key here is not to get downhearted on a week where you may lose less than 2.3 pounds but use that to motivate you to make it up over the course of the month to achieve the monthly goal. The cycle then repeats itself until you have smashed your final goal and are on the plane to your summer holiday happy with what you have done and to look and feel great in the sun!

Once you return the process then starts again and you create new goals and motivate yourself to complete them.

Remember achieving what you want to achieve isn’t easy or we would all be millionaires that look amazing but my god it is satisfying when you do achieve something you have set out too!

If you would like some help in setting some goals or need motivation for training then why not get in contact with me or one of the other PTs at LF to start you along your journey.