Has your fitness motivation left you, well, unmotivated? You’re not alone. The desire to get in shape but the failure to achieve it is near epidemic. Obesity runs rampant and is also near epidemic if not full-blown in the United States.

Many people also confuse being skinny with being healthy. Research has found that you can be thin on the outside, but actually have an unhealthy build up of fat around your organs.

If you’re being honest with yourself, you have to admit that you’re at your best when you’re physically fit. If you get tired walking up a flight of stairs, you know what I mean. Fit people are more equipped to handle daily challenges.

Poor fitness motivation is everywhere, and big business doesn’t help. The diet and fitness industry sells billions of dollars worth of products, memberships, gimmicks, and pills every year. That alone is proof enough that most people are searching for an answer.

The truth is that when it comes to fitness there is no magic pill or diet. Complete fitness requires proper nutrition, and effective and regular exercise. Surprise! Many of us suffer from poor fitness motivation because we can’t reach the unrealistic goals set by the fitness industry itself.

If you’ve attempted to lose weight and get in shape without success, you may have experienced these problems:

Expending too much effort for poor results. In business, we look for a return on investment, and so it is with fitness. No payoff means you won’t stay motivated.

Too many distractions and choices. It’s great to have choices in life. The problem is that at some point, you have to choose a plan and stick to it. Thousands of messages are hitting you every week telling you that you can lose weight without dieting or exercise, and perpetuating myths.

There are simply too many exercise programs and diet plans out there, all telling you that they’re the best. There’s Pilates, spinning, traditional cardio, and all kinds of celebrity backed fitness machines and diet companies.

Maybe you should just take a pill or eat some magic fruit and be done with it. That sounds better than sweating up a storm, don’t you think?

Lack of focus. Giving yourself excuses to cheat on your diet, or skip your exercise plan can sabotage your efforts. Worse yet, some of us go for years with no set plan or system to follow. We look back on the last five years and wonder how we gained 30 pounds. It’s not really a mystery!

Below are ways to improve your fitness motivation:

There are so many commercial programs and possibilities out there. Once you choose an exercise and diet routine to follow, your best bet is to forget about all the other heavily advertised programs.

The other thing you must do is find a fitness plan that works. That includes proper nutrition, creating a calorie deficit, boosting your metabolism, and doing more efficient workouts. Workouts based on newer research allow you to spend less time and effort and get better results.

Make a commitment. Don’t hop from one program to another hoping to find that quick fix. Once you find a good program, stick with it. Success takes consistent time and effort.

Use tracking to improve. Measure your results against your goals and see what’s working. Modify your plan if needed, and continue to do more of what works until you hit your target.

If you want to make a big change, make lots of little changes. Don’t turn your life upside down to accommodate your fitness plan. Instead, find a way to work it into your schedule without disrupting things. Find a complete and workable fitness plan and commit to it. Track your results, and adjust as needed until you get the results you want.