You’ve found your motivation to start your fitness journey, so the next logical step is to set some goals! What is the best way to set goals, how do you make sure they are realistic enough to maintain, and how do you plan to meet them? Clear, personalized, and continually adjusted goals were important throughout multiple studies regarding managing weight, maintaining a healthy diet, and creating and sticking to a fitness routine. While externally defined goals (such as goals defined by weight loss groups or goals set by doctors) were found to provide guidance and accountability, self-defined goals (that are intrinsically motivated) were more important and beneficial overall to sustained weight management. Having highly personalized goals for yourself regarding your gym schedule, fitness level, and diet enhances your feeling of bodily autonomy and your overall success rate! Part of making goals for yourself is understanding that unexpected things happen- you...Read more

Last week, we discussed self-monitoring and how it relates to weight management. An important question remains- what motivates you to self-monitor? What are the best motivators? Let’s talk about the most significant motivators and the ones that are most likely to keep us motivated!  An important theme found by the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Health and Well-being among those who have succeeded in long-term weight management was motivation to change, and what drives you to keep going makes a difference! Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation encouraged individuals in this study to stay on track. Intrinsic motivators were the critical component, and individuals with intrinsic motivators were the most successful. However, extrinsic motivators helped those who sustained long-term weight loss as well. The biggest intrinsic motivators for those who could lose and maintain weight loss were the desire to improve one’s overall health and fitness level and prevent conditions...Read more

Have you ever considered your level of self-awareness regarding what you eat and how you feel? Have you ever actually practiced self-monitoring? It’s a learnable skill and an essential tool in your tool kit for long-term weight management. In a study conducted by the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Health and Well-being, experts identified common themes among individuals who were able to lose weight and maintain that weight loss over long periods of time. Today, we will tackle one of the most central ideas and one that anyone can do on their own- self-monitoring! So, what is “monitoring” concerning sustainable weight management? According to the National Library of Medicine, self-monitoring is “deliberate attention to some aspect of an individual’s behavior and recording some details of that behavior.” Self-monitoring requires self-awareness, which can be learned by ANYONE over time. One of the most essential tools we can use to self-monitor...Read more

Here at Fit, we believe that knowledge is power, and we would like to share the information we’ve learned about something a lot of time thinking about- weight management. Before we dive into the meat of it, let’s talk about what doesn’t work: fad diets and magic supplements. We are constantly bombarded with advertisements for products and diet fads that promise to shave inches off our bellies and to help us lose weight fast, all without much effort on our part, and they all want us to part ways with our hard-earned money to do so. From weight loss pills to radical and restricting diets, there is always a company out there eager to make money off our insecurities surrounding weight management. Why? Because we keep falling for it. They know it doesn’t work, and they know that people will keep coming back when they ultimately fail to sustain the...Read more

Mobility issues are a concern for many people as they age. In fact, about 30% of people over 70 years old have problems standing up, walking, and using stairs. The risk of injury from performing daily tasks increases also. This leads to higher rates of nursing home admissions, falls, and chronic disease. The biggest culprit for this decline in mobility and risk of injury? Loss of muscle mass. Typically, humans naturally gain the most muscle mass throughout their teens and 20s. For most people, muscle mass reaches its peak around their 30’s. After that, it declines slowly at first, but muscle mass rapidly declines once we are a little older (65 for women and 70 for men). While there is no way to stop the clock completely, there is a lot you can do to slow the decline of muscle mass (and gain some back!). The answer? Resistance training! What...Read more