1. Stay prepared. Put your fitness clothes, shoes, and gear where you need them, before you need them: Next to your bed for a morning run, in your car to hit the gym in between errands, or in your office for a little lunch-time cardio.
2. Never go home first. Convincing yourself to leave your comfy couch, snack-filled kitchen, and TV is a Herculean feat, especially after work. So make things easier on yourself by heading straight to the gym.
3. Make it quick. “Research shows we don’t need to spend as much time as we think,” Reames says. “With high intensity intervals or even moderate high intensity intervals, you can do a lot at the gym in 20 or 30 minutes.” (Check out these three interval workouts for ideas.)
4. Set mini-goals. Losing 50 pounds in 4 months is doable, but tough to stay excited about for 16 weeks. Break long-term goals into short-term, easy-to-track goals, like losing a pound or two a week. To further goof-proof them, write your goals down and share with a close friend who can check on your progress. Now get going!
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