You have some big health goals to achieve, but you can not seem to stick to a schedule. These 8 tips teach you how to workout consistently for beginners.

I get this comment a lot: “I wish I had your dedication.”

I get this questions a lot: “How do you have the time to workout?”

The bottom line answer to both that comment and question?

It makes me feel good.

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Working out makes me feel strong, confident, and powerful. It has the ability to completely change my mood and inform my health decisions for the rest of the day. If those are the benefits it gives me, just emotionally, why would I not want to do it consistently?

You can absolutely meet your fitness goals with a set of dumbbells and a focused workout in your living room.

Grab your free Two Week At Home Workout Plan here and take the guesswork out of your fitness time.

Here is the thing though. Working out consistently when you are a beginner is hard. It takes some serious gumption, focus, and drive.

As a beginner four times over (hello three babies in three and a half years), I know all too well the feeling of being a stranger in your body, of feeling weak and like your fitness goals will never happen, of feeling like you have way too long to go and lack the patience to get there.

10 months postpartum, I still have a long way to go, but my workout consistency is back, my determination is stronger than ever, and I have finally reached my base fitness goals.

Ready to figure out how to workout consistently for beginners? Here is exactly how to do it.

Follow a Workout Plan

A workout plan that is designed with your goals is going to help you reach them so much faster than just picking random individual workouts off of Pinterest.

A personal trainer designed workout plan can get you to those goals of being able to walk up the stairs without feeling winded, or carry in all the groceries in one go, or be able to reach the book on the top shelf while on tip toe.

Those individual workouts you are taking from Pinterest and deciding while you warm up “stretch” before your workout which one to do are not giving you a comprehensive plan of attack.

Yes, they will get your heart rate up. Yes, they may help you feel stronger, but if you want real results, you need a real plan.

Two fitness plans that follow a progression to get you results:

• Full Body Tone Routine
• Finish Line Strong Training Plan

Wear workout clothes you actually like and feel good in

When you are feeling like a stranger in your body, you are not going to want to put on your old workout clothes.

Spend a little bit of money and buy ones that actually fit you, you feel good in, and you enjoy wearing. It sounds simple, but having clothes you want to put on to workout in will change the motivation of getting ready for your gym time.

Set a Specific Goal

Yes you have a general goal of wanting to lose some weight, get into shape, or complete a race.

You need to be much more specific than that. Exactly how much weight do you want to lose in how much time? What does “in shape” mean to you? Are you just trying to finish a race distance, or hit a time goal?

Once you know those exact goals, you need to be very clear on your why.

Are you losing those 20 pounds because you want to be able to run around with your kids easier? Feel sexier for your spouse? Or just wear your body more confidently?

Are you hitting a time goal in your race to feel confident? To lead to a bigger running goal? To show your kids how strong you can be with dedication?

Whatever your why, make sure you know it. It will make getting those workouts done on your toughest days much more motivating.

Make It a Priority

I know that being a beginner means it is harder to get in that gym time. It takes even more focus to slog it out day in and day out while you build your base fitness and build back up your strength.

However, you have to make it a priority. You have to set the time aside to get your workout done. Remind yourself of your goals and your why and make it happen.

Put Supports In Place

Supports are a huge factor in our goal setting work during any of my programs. We spend the first week making sure they are in order.

You need to have yours in place before you even start. This means you know where the lids to the food storage containers are. It means you have childcare, or some way to entertain the kids, while you workouts. It means you have a meal plan ready to go.

It means you are not left scrambling to get what you need together in order to be successful.

Make a list of the supports you need – whether they be kitchen items, workout equipment, or schedule coordinations – and give yourself a deadline to get them organized. Then, you can jump into your new workout routine without any roadblocks.

Concentrate on Nutrition

Working out is a vital piece of your health puzzle, but it is not everything. If you are not focusing on your nutrition as well, then your workouts are not going to be getting you results.

Eating lots of vegetables, drinking tons of water, and focusing on lean proteins and whole grains will move that scale faster and get you to your goals quicker.

The mentality of, “I did a workout so I can now eat whatever I want,” has to go. Most workouts only burn about 250 calories, so focusing on healthier foods is going to make your workout benefits go further.

Check out these blog posts to start incorporting more vegetables into your daily diet:

• 7 Easy Meals To Get The Whole Family To Eat More Vegetables
• How To Make Meal Planning Easy For The Busy Mom
• 7 Beginner Vegetarian Meals

Hire a Personal Trainer and Health Coach

Having a certified personal trainer and health coach there to cheer you on, troubleshoot your struggles, and give you the training and coaching you need will keep your goals at the forefront of your week.

Personal Trainers provide you the workout plan that is catered to your current fitness levels and builds up to where you want to be. The Health Coach works with you on your goals, your struggles, your nutrition, and your habit change.

Even better? Hire someone who is both a personal trainer and health coach like me!

Be Patient

I know you want those goals to happen right now, but you need to be realistic with yourself. These goals of yours are going to take time and you have to be patient.

Consistently show up to your workout time, consistently make better food choices in the kitchen, and consistently give yourself some positive self talk.

You are going to want to quit, but you have to be patient and those results will come. As a general rule for how long weight loss might take: losing half to one pound a week is standard. That means that 20 pound weight loss you are after is going to take a minimum of 5 months.

Keep doing the work. You will get there and it will be so worth it.

Stop choosing between a nutritious dinner and a workout. Instead, pull something pre-made and healthier out of the freezer! These four freezer friendly meals will get you breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack ready to go when you are.

Set 11 contains four recipes, a shopping list, a plan of attack to get everything made efficiently, and ideas of what to do with leftover ingredients.

Grab your four freezer-friendly recipes here.