Perhaps you have been through this type of thing before where by you have decided to improve your health and fitness and in the beginning you felt really motivated. Maybe you watched an inspiring film that prompted you to take action, perhaps a friend of yours you hadn't seen for a while turned up having lost a lot of weight or having gained significant muscle mass or perhaps you were just fed up of feeling lethargic and unfit. Whatever the initial stimulus was, you began exercising and then continued to exercise for a while.

However after a while your motivation decreased, you got busy at work, you got tired of making the effort or the results weren't as good as you'd hoped for and you unconsciously quit your healthy exercise lifestyle. If that all sounds familiar then here are a few easy ways to help regain and sustain your motivation for a healthier lifestyle: 

Try setting an enjoyable goal. For example how about planning a walking holiday to the canadian Rockies, the himalayas or a mountain biking or kayaking trip to some other similar exotic adventurous destination. Now with this trip in your future plans you really do have something to aim for. In order to make the most your trip to the you really ought to be in the best physical shape possible. If you plan your trip for say 5 months in advance then straight away you have a sensible goal to hang your fitness plans around.

Enter a local event. Get online and seek out a local fun run, marathon or other similar such event, I bet there is plenty. Work towards one of these events as a goal to aim for. Tell a close friend about your plans so they can encourage you in your training and come to watch you on the day. 

Take up a sport or hobby, this doesn't have to be an ultra serious thing just a light hearted game of soccer or hockey at the weekends but it gives you an easy and enjoyable way to monitor your fitness levels. Of course the initial couple of sessions may be very taxing but you will soon notice an improvement and start to look and feel better.

Visualise. Ok this might sound a bit odd at first but try and find a bit of time each day to sit and visualise in your minds eye exactly how you wish to feel and look. Doing this sends a powerful mesage to your sub conscious about what decisions you should be making during your day. Keep doing this and your behaviour will automatically alter to reflect your goals and lead you towards your visualised goals. Many top athletes use techniques such as this simply becuase it brings great results.

Get your pet dog, friends and family involved. Getting more people involved makes it less likely for you to get bored and lose motivation. If your friends is calling you on that particular day when you really don't feel like doing anything you are much less likely not to go and exercise.

Educate yourself. Be curious find out about building lean muscle mass, find out how to get a 6 pack, find out how to shed pounds, find out what muscle building nutrition you need for lean muscle building and so on. By growing your knowledge you are quite probably going to improve the rate that your fitness levels will increase which will then serve to increase your motivation more.

Make sure that you do not make comparisons of yourself with others. No matter who you are there is always going to be someone bigger stronger fitter, leaner sexier or whatever. Accept this fact and realise that you all go through this process of life from your own differing perspectives. Pay more attention to how you feel than to anything else, if you feel good then you are likely getting healthier.

So, with those tips in mind go hit the gym and do whatever it is that you enjoy doing to keep fit, build lean muscle mass or whatever else you want to do, you can do it, just keep it fun.