Did you know that how you live, day to day, determines the level of fitness and muscularity you'll achieve?

It's true, if you have a lifestyle that supports weight(fat) loss, you will not have to worry about being overweight.

If your lifestyle is not supportive of fat loss and staying fit, then it really doesn't matter what you do in the gym, your results will be limited.

It's when you expect one thing and do something totally opposite trying to get it that there becomes a problem.

If you weight train intensely, do your cardio consistently, and support yourself nutritionally, you'll get leaner, stronger, and more fit. It happens. Certain steps lead to certain destinations.

But doing things repeatedly that DO NOT support your goals will ensure you DO NOT reach them.

Here's some examples;

It's the new year and you decide one of your resolutions is to lose weight, specifically 15 pounds of fat. You give up your old, pleasurable lifestyle of eating burgers and fries four nights a week while watching your favorite T.V. shows.

Your new, improved lifestyle involves eating salads and chicken breasts and exercising at the time you used to watch your T.V. shows.

You're so determined to lose this weight that you sacrifice all sense of fun for the next four weeks while you continue to exercise each night, skipping the fast food and T.V.

Four weeks have gone by and you've indeed lost your goal weight of 15 pounds.

So you figure, hey, I've done it, now I can celebrate a bit. I'm going to cut back a bit on the exercise now that I've lost the weight I wanted and I think I'll see what's on the T.V.

You go to the fridge for a snack and realize you haven't gone shopping for your healthy foods yet this week.

But hey, there's still those burgers and fries in the fridge, and you've earned a little celebration meal.

Soon, the lost pleasure of eating this delicious food and watching your favorite TV show returns and feels so great. So you do it again the next night, and the next, etc....

The old, unproductive habits have crept back into your life and have now influenced the newer, more productive ones. Your lifestyle is nothing more than what you do, day in and day out. It can either support your fitness goals or hurt them.

If you want to shed some body fat yet you continue to take days off from cardio because you're not motivated enough to do it, that's part of your lifestyle.

What you choose to do each day will influence what you get in return.

Make small, improved lifestyle changes that support your fitness goals and continue them until they become habit. Then move on to another small change that benefits you, replacing an older, less productive habit.

In fact, by making lifestyle changes in moderation, you increase the likelihood that these changes will be permanent.

Anytime that you go back to the unproductive lifestyle that caused you to be overweight, the weight you lost can return again.

The solution? Do not rule out all sense of pleasure when you decide to go after your fitness goal.

In fact, your fitness goals of being slimmer, more muscular, and more confident should be more pleasureable than burgers or fries.

If your surrounding environment and habits (cookies, cake, ice cream in front of the TV) do not contribute to your fitness goals, you need to make a change so that what you eat and do each day does.