Staying motivated when getting back in shape is one of the biggest challenges. As I said last week, getting in shape takes time. If you are just getting back to the gym it will likely take a minimum of three to six months to achieve your fitness goals—and that’s only if you stick to it.

How many times have you promised yourself you’ll go back to the gym and get on a diet? And how many times have you given up?

Truly getting healthy is a long time life change, and that can be pretty intimidating. I know because I was like that once. At the beginning of my university I weighed in at about 145 pounds (66 kilos), fairly heavy for someone as petite as me, and I had never been on an exercise machine in my life.

Lifting weights? Yeah right. What motivated me was having a master sergeant come with me to the gym everyday to teach me how to lift and having my best friend go to aerobics with me every day at five…no matter what.

By graduation I was teaching the classes. Alas, not all of us can have a master sergeant come to the gym with us every day, but most of us have friends, family members or even work colleagues that also want to get fit.

You can either choose a friend that is already working out and ask them to show you the ropes or you can choose a friend that has a similar level of fitness and set your goals together.

Working out with someone else is a great way to stay motivated to keep to whatever workout schedule you decide. It’s also more fun. My best friend and I used our time at the gym to chat as well as to work out.

We also took on other workout buddies and ended up as a group if lovely lifting ladies. So give it a try to have more fun getting fit.

Amity Weiss is a professional personal trainer from America living in Kigali.

Contact: Amity­_weiss@yahoo.com