Not too far back a member at the fitness center asked me my opinion about her joining a twelve week fitness contest. This is a woman who worked out inconsistently and had inconsistent results. While not obese, she definitely had weight to lose. She was very enthusiastic about getting her picture in print so I tried to encourage her.

Since she wanted me to help her, I got out my skin fold caliper and measured her at 27%. This was normal for her over forty age group.

She told me that she wanted to reduce to 19% and I agreed that it was a good goal. Making this reduction would take a long time since most people can only lose .5% per week on average.

Anyway, she worked out really hard and, after 12 weeks, she was ripped!

She was so happy and excited, it was wonderful to see. Suddenly, however, she stopped coming to the gym.

I tried to call her, but she didn’t answer. She didn’t return my calls either.

Months later, she came back to the gym, but had gained most of her weight back after failing to win the contest. She started exercising again, but only periodically.

This type of temporary success followed by failure happens a lot.

It is possible, however, to have progressively better results year after year. It just takes more than 12 weeks.

Here are a few tips I have that might help.

1. Avoid starting diets. Don’t define your nutrition plan as starting something that will sometime stop: your eating habits should change for life.

2. Get a plan ready to maintain your fitness once you’ve achieved your goals.

3. Don’t try changing too much at once. Trying to do too much too fast will make your goals unsustainable.