When you’re trying to lose weight or improve your fitness levels, self-control is what will make or break it for you. If you don’t have willpower, you’re more likely to slip back into bad habits and not see the results you want.

You need to ensure that you’re able to stick to your plan, make healthy choices and generally make the best decisions about diet and exercise. This may mean saying no to things you’d really like to say yes to, but overall, it’s the best way to achieve what you set out to.

Unfortunately, maintaining self-control isn’t as easy as we’d all hope. There are likely to be a lot of a situations where it will get tested, but there are a number of ways you can improve your self-control.

Set a goal

If you have a specific goal that you want to achieve within a set timeframe, this can help motivate you to maintain better self-control. Your goal should be realistic and achievable, but still mean you need to push yourself.

Having a goal to refer back to can help you make better choices and avoid foods and situations that could put your self-control to the test. Not only does this mean you’re more likely to achieve what you hoped to, it will allow you to create new and healthy habits more easily.

Monitor yourself

It’s easy to say yes to a sneaky cupcake or bar of chocolate if there is no evidence of it after the fact, which is why self monitoring is a good way to improve self-control. If you are recording what you eat and when you exercise, it ensures you can see where you haven’t done as well as you like.

This will also mean you can spot what is likely to have affected your weight in a negative way or left you struggling at the gym. You can use the Well One app to track your exercise and what you eat, as well as other factors that will affect your health score, all of which could lead to better overall self-control.

Keep motivated

Everyone has bad days when it comes to trying to be healthy, but if you’re motivated, you can easily make up for them and get back on track. The best way to see results is to remain motivated to take the right steps to reach them, so this is an important part of self-control.

To stay motivated, it is a good idea to have a reason behind your goal other than wanting to lose weight or improve your fitness. Think about why you want to do those things and what it will mean to you when you reach your goal. Knowing this will help drive you forward and ensure you’re more likely to make better choices.

Avoid temptation

One of the best ways to improve self-control is to avoid situations that are more likely to test it. This doesn’t mean you need to skip out on all the things you love, but just be aware of what you need to do to stop yourself falling into bad habits.

Clear your cupboards of anything that isn’t on your diet, choose a gym that is close to home or work and check out restaurants in advance to ensure they have healthy options on the menu. All of this can mean you stick with your healthy plan but don’t miss out on everything you love.

Believe you can do it

Of course, in order to improve self-control, you need to believe that you can. There’s no point in setting yourself healthy goals if you don’t believe that you can achieve them, as this will mean you’re less likely to stick to your plan. Having the right mindset is the most important aspect of maintaining self-control, so ensure you’re making these changes for the right reasons.