Mikey Moon's health and fitness column: Baby steps are real progress

So my little boy hit a milestone over Christmas. He started to crawl, which was really exciting for me and his mum.

It was quite nervy as well because now he moves our job is so much harder, though it did get me thinking about the process.

He has been trying for a while and getting quite angry because he couldn’t do it.

We kept encouraging him and made sure he was practising. He just couldn’t grasp it but now he has it’s amazing.

He’s crawling not walking, so he is not fully there yet but you celebrate those victories. So why don’t we do that with fitness?

With January upon us, it is easy to set big goals, which is great because everyone should have big goals.

The problem with big goals is that people leave out the development steps on the way to those goals.

Take my boy, for example. His goal is obviously to walk and he will achieve it eventually.

I’m not annoyed that he is only crawling at presen because we understand the development steps of a baby. We understand it takes time for them to reach their goals.

We don’t do this with ourselves, though. We set a goal to lose, say, a stone but then get annoyed when we lose a pound. It’s completely backwards.

Our goal is to lose 14lbs, we’ve lost one on the way but are mad at ourselves and feel it’s not working, though clearly it is as we’ve lost weight.

We forget the steps. To lose 14lbs you have to lose 1lb first, then keep moving forward.

It may take you five weeks, eight of 14 – but it will take forever if you keep stopping and restarting.

Just because you are not progressing as fast as you envisaged does not mean you’re not progressing.

So when you are starting your journey this month, don’t forget the steps along the way to your goal.

Celebrate progress no matter how small it might seem.

Fortitude Fitness is on the Poulton Industrial Estate, Beacon Road. Visit www.fortitudefit.co.uk for more details.

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