Six Reasons Holding You Back From Achieving Your Health Goals & How To Overcome Them

You want to lose weight.

You want to feel good in your clothes.

You want to feel more confident.

You want to run a marathon.

You want to have more energy.

You just want to feel good.

What’s holding you back from getting started?

The Best Time To Start Is Now

Health isn’t a nice to have, it’s a must have.

Without health, our lives are limited. Not just in the sense of longevity either, but limited in a sense of what we are capable of doing and achieving. What we’re capable of creating, offering, and enjoying ourselves.

I don’t know of anyone when asked if health is important to them, would answer no.

You want to be healthy. I want to be healthy. We all want to be healthy.

Whether being healthy means losing weight, having more energy, or more confidence. Maybe it’s to run a marathon or feel and look the way you want in your clothes.

For me, healthy means remaining illness and injury free.

We all have our own reasons for wanting to be healthy.

Simply wanting health, isn’t going to get you health.

The only way to achieve health is to overcome the reasons, excuses, and obstacles that continue to come up, and are keeping you from achieving your health goals.

If There’s A Will, There’s A Way

Health, being illness and injury free is important to you, having energy to do more of the things you want, having more confidence, looking and feeling the way you want… if one or more of these are important to you, then there’s a will, and where there is will, there will always be a way.

It’s not enough to want health, you must work for it.

Health is a privilege and available to all of us, although it must be earned through daily actions, decisions, and choices.

As with anything worth having, there will always be reasons, obstacles, and excuses along the way to challenge or prevent you from achieving your health goals, or worse yet, never getting started.

Create A Way, Not An Excuse

If health is important to you, find or create a way to make health happen. If it’s not important, you’ll find an excuse and reasons why you’ve been unsuccessful or have yet to start.

It’s important that you start to think in terms of why you can create the health you want versus all the reasons why you can’t.

Henry Ford said it best, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

Start thinking you can and you will.

Most Common Reasons, Obstacles, & Excuses

Working with hundreds of different people and different health goals over the past 14 years, I’ve identified the top six reasons that are keeping you from achieving your health goals and a solution for each.

1. Time

No time to exercise, train, or plan ahead to eat healthy. This is the number one reason stopping people from achieving their health goals. Lots of other priorities; children, family, friends, career, business, television, social media, sleep. There just isn’t enough hours in the day to get it all done.

SOLUTION

Identify your priorities and then allocate the time necessary to getting them done first. If you’re unsure of what your priorities are, read the following – How To Identify Your Priorities & Take Immediate Action So That You’re Successful Everyday.

If you’re really pressed for time, then read: Pressed For Time? No Problem. Five Minute Fitness Routine For Better Health & Energy.

2. Motivation

Having the energy and motivation to do what is necessary to achieve any health goal is a must. After a long day, it’s challenging to muster up the energy to get in a workout or prepare a healthy meal.

SOLUTION

The sooner you begin exercising regularly, the sooner you’ll have more energy to do what’s necessary to achieve your goals. Getting started is always the toughest, but it gets easier as you go. Aside from yourself, think of others who will benefit from you being healthier such as your family, friends, spouse, children, and the example you’re setting.

3. Support

It can be a tough and lonely road on your way to achieving your health goals when others around you don’t have the same health goals you do and don’t understand or support what you’re doing.

SOLUTION

Let family and friends know how important it is for you to accomplish your health goals and how it benefits them in the process as well. Let them know how important their help and support is to you. If you still don’t get the support you need, find an online support group, blogs, or communities where there are other like-minded people with similar health goals that will help, encourage, and support you. You’re currently on one of them right now. 🙂

4. Resources

Gym memberships, fitness equipment, athletic clothing, personal trainers, nutritionists, and weight loss plans all cost money and are expensive.

SOLUTION

None of these are necessary to achieve your health goals. There’s a plethora of free information readily available to you on the web that you can refer to for guidance. Here’s a 7-Day Health Kick-Starter For All Fitness Levels.

5. Not Sure Where To Start

All roads may lead to Rome, but the question is, what road do you take? Which one is right for you? Losing any amount of weight or training for an athletic event, such as a marathon, can seem daunting.

SOLUTION

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The goal isn’t to get it right, the goal is to start, to put the wheels in motion, to take that first step. The road, the plan, or training routine that’s best is the one you choose and commit to. Read How To Successfully Follow Through On A Plan So That It Works For You & Not Against You to give you a good idea on where and how to start any plan.

6.  Fear Of Failure

What if you fail? What if you don’t succeed? What if you don’t lose the weight you wanted or finish the marathon you trained for? How will you feel? What will others think or say?

SOLUTION

What if you do lose the weight or finish the marathon? Think of the sense of accomplishment and confidence it’ll give you. Think of others you’ll be influencing and giving hope to that they too can do the same. Focus on success and all the good that will come from it. Remember, whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.

 “He who has health, has hope, and he who has hope, has everything.”

~ Thomas Carlyle ~

What are some obstacles you’ve encountered along the way to achieving your health goals? How did you overcome them? Please share your experience with me in the comments below.