Before you pick up your old dumbbell or go for a run, ask yourself this. Why?

Why are you starting? What is your true purpose? What will that bicep curl or run do for you?

Just like any of goal we set, we do need to take a step back and think about what we really want or need to accomplish.

What will this do for you? What will this do for your family, should you lose 10kg. If you don’t have a strong enough reason, you will allow other events/priorities in and will not see this goal through.

Your why has to pull on your heart-strings. Let me tell you my why to put this into perspective.

Believe it or not, at one stage of my life I was over 100+ kgs. 108kg to be exact. I was wearing size 38 shorts and even those felt tight. But worst of all, I felt absolutely horrible with my life and as a result, I was clearly affecting those around me. I was grumpy, tired and the burden that I felt was all due to the excess weight I had to carry with me everywhere I went.

Yes, this wasn’t completely my fault. You see, I was in a car accident that didn’t allow me to move. I was bedridden, deemed paraplegic and I was in a wheelchair for a number of months before I was able to walk again.

However, the weight gain was through the fact that I didn’t adjust for the lack of exercise I was now doing. Plus the meals that was generously prepared for me wasn’t the meals I would normally eat. I do however believe that it was still myself who ate just too much for the little that I did.

So i had a choice. I could dwell on the past, blame otherwise for the way I was, or focus on what I did from here. This became my WHY.

No longer did I want to be FAT, or LAZY or GRUMPY. I wanted to be FIT and HEALTHY and full of ENERGY.

That that I had my WHY, now came action.

The question is today, what is your WHY? Do you have one?

The truth is the smart and successful people always have a why. This why constantly changes as they constantly look to improve.

The ones who aren’t dwell on the past and always complain about how they CAN’T.

So, who are you? What is your WHY? It’s actually harder to work out more than you think. Some people will have in their minds to lose weight. Great! But why is this so important? Also, how much weight? What pants size do we want to be? What body shape do we want to have?

In order to stay motivated, you need to find new and exciting ways of continuing your health journey, whether that be a new routine, new meals or a new sporting adventure!

If you find the road difficult, either hire a health coach or have someone who can help map out step-by-step exactly what you need to do to achieve your why.

If you don’t, that goal that you probably told yourself as part of your new year resolution will always be a pipe dream, and unfortunately, never a reality.