Your biggest hurdle when you’re trying to achieve a tough goal is hardly your circumstances or situation. So often, your worst enemy is your own mind. On the road to better fitness, your journey can be attributed to 10% routine, 10% diet and 80% perseverance. With a negative mindset, you might easily adopt a defeatist attitude and sabotage your own victory over your goals. Learning how to improve your mindset is therefore critical.

A positive mindset is what helps you keep pushing or even just take one more step, when your training starts to feel like too much. So much of success is showing up and getting rid of negative thoughts. Here are some tips you can follow to get on the road to a fitter you.

Be Your Own Cheerleader

It’s good to have a buddy who can help keep you accountable. They can keep you on track when it comes to your workouts and your diet. However, you can’t rely on that person all the time. You will be making food decisions and doing your workout on your own most days. Here’s a secret: you are strong enough to do the right thing, even on your own.

Try practicing constructive self-talk. When you’re down because you failed to reach your goal in the gym, don’t be too hard on yourself. When you stray from your diet on a certain day, learn to forgive yourself. You can always assure yourself that you’ll do better next time. Don’t think you will always be a failure. Every day is a chance to do better.

Make Exercise Fun

Improving your mindset of course requires changing how you think about exercise. The simplest way is to stop thinking of it as a chore. There are many ways to make exercise more fun. One is to choose exercises that you actually enjoy doing. This doesn’t mean sticking to “easy” workouts. It means that there is probably an effective exercise out there that you won’t hate.

You can also try adding variety to your workout. Your body might reach a plateau if you don’t change it up. Try introducing something new to your routine regularly. If you’re into games, you can try competing with a buddy or setting up a points system where you can “level up.”

Make Eating a Pleasurable Experience

You don’t have to hate yourself for eating that red velvet cupcake. Eating is not a moral issue. While there are foods that can rack up more calories than others, you are not a lost cause if you eat just one more slice of pizza.

Many people who are on a strict fitness or nutrition regime often end up being less social. Restricting what you eat might cause you to refuse going out with your friends or even attending events. Eating, aside from nourishing your body, is also a social event. Enjoying food with other people does not have to impede your progress. Just keep moderation in mind.

Restructure Your Thoughts to be More Positive

Refuse to fall into a defeatist mindset. Do not think of exercise and dieting as your punishment for not taking care of yourself in the past. Instead, think of these as ways of improving yourself for the future. Exercising regularly is a big step toward preventing chronic diseases that come with a sedentary lifestyle. Being fit makes your life more comfortable. Without health issues in the way, you’re able to enjoy more things and participate in new, fun activities. Finally, being fit can brighten your overall mood and outlook on life.

Do it for You

You are not losing weight so that you can impress your family, friends, significant other or coworkers. You are not working to get fit so that you can get 1,000 likes on Instagram. You need to remember that you are doing this for yourself. You are the one who will reap all the benefits in the end.

How does this help you get a positive mindset? Doing all this for yourself means that you are not doing it for anyone’s approval. You no longer bear the pressure of looking the way others think you should look. Other people’s comments will no longer bother you. This all contributes to a life with less stress and more positive energy to channel toward your goals.

Improving your mindset toward your fitness journey is largely about knowing how good fitness is for you. Relieving yourself of unnecessary pressure and stress can also contribute greatly. By keeping these tips in mind, you’re more likely to work harder toward your fitness goals and achieve them more easily.