Within the next few moments you will learn the key to creating life long health and fitness! It is not some fad celebrity diet, and does not require you to take any dangerous supplements. The secret does not even require that you start doing three workouts a day until your waistline swiftly and dramatically shrinks.

The secret is simple, consistency and commitment for life. Let me explain before you decide to throw this article aside, you will be satisfied by what you find.

While we are all looking to fit into that bathing suit by next week, this kind of crash dieting is not only unhealthy it is also stressful, counterproductive and inefficient. Being healthy and beautiful takes time and commitment. It is not about how many workouts you can squeeze into one week, or avoiding carbs for three weeks. Attaining your goal to be fit and healthy and stay that way requires that you make complete lifestyle changes.

Stop wasting your money on fad and often unhealthy diet regimes and start focusing on your habits. Getting on the road to not only having a healthy sexier body but keeping it starts right now with a few simple questions:

1.  What are you eating?

Don't hide from this question, really face your food. What is in your refrigerator right now? Do you have any whole wheat products? Do any of the things in your kitchen have trans fats? How often do you eat fast food? By facing your food instead of lying to yourself about that Ben and Jerry's in the freezer you are taking the first step to learning how to re-think your eating habits. The trick here is to not buy bad food. I know it sounds difficult but it is a lot easier to resist the temptation at the grocery store once, then it is when you have a midnight craving for chocolate. Best advice here is to shop with a list and only shop when you are not hungry. Shopping when you are hungry will lead you down the candy isle faster then you can blink.

2.  When are you eating, and how often?

It is now common knowledge that eating smaller meals more frequently is one of the healthiest things that you can do. Five to six small meals is often the recommendation of health industry professionals. You should never skip breakfast and avoid eating dinner right before bedtime.

3.  How often are you exercising? Do you enjoy exercising? If you don't enjoy exercising what could you do that you would enjoy?

There are a lot of great exercise programs out now that allow you to exercise while doing fun things like dancing, or kickboxing. There are also fitness instructors for just about everything you could imagine. Finding something you enjoy could really help you not only slim down and tone up, but also stay that way. Exercising is crucial to your short term and long term health.

4.  Do you beat yourself up and become depressed when you don't stick to an exercise or diet regime?

Don't. Not every road leads to instant success. Some of the most successful people not only in fitness but in business and life in general say that they don't see a road in front of them leading them to their goal. All these individuals see is the goal itself and they know that they will find a way to get there. If at first you don't succeed don't beat yourself up, instead use you misstep as a learning opportunity. Look over what caused you to stray. Is there something you could have done differently to promote your success? Are you asking too much of yourself too soon? Sometimes we need to take smaller steps towards our goals. This means taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and slowly adding fruits and vegetables to your daily pallet. Most importantly, pick yourself up and keep moving forward.

5.  Do you find yourself often saying that you will do it tomorrow?

Tomorrow has come and gone many times, all you have left is today. If you keep putting your goals off you will find that your overall health will not improve and if your diet is poor and you don't exercise it may even get worse. No more excuses, it is time to start your new lifestyle today. Start making little acceptable changes every day and reward yourself for all your accomplishments. For lunch today eat broccoli with your meal instead of potato chips. Tomorrow morning go for a morning walk and eat peas with your lunch. The day after that go for a longer morning walk and have fresh avocado with lunch. These small changes add up and increase your chance for success.

Many of us want instant results so we buy into trendy new promises for extreme results. I have even seen advertisements for pills that promise viewers that they will lose weight without diet or exercise. This claim is terrible because even if the viewers loose the weight they will not be healthy or have energy.

If you are looking at a new workout program or diet fad, remember that you need to make a commitment for life so choose something you can do always and forever. Think of your diet and exercise program like a good marriage. You don't want to get married just to get divorced. You want a long lasting happy romantic marriage so don't rush into drastic unrealistic diets or programs!

I work with many people trying to lose weight and if you find yourself back at square one you may benefit from hiring a life coach to help you get unstuck from the mud. You can talk to a life coach for free by signing up for a free 15min session here.