It’s 15 days since the Tigeress Lifestyle January Fitness Challenge began; twenty minutes of exercise each day and a cleaner diet than 2014, all the way through Jan! How many of you have managed to keep it up? If the answer’s no (or if you haven’t even started!!) or you’re starting to feel a little demotivated, here are a few little tips on how to keep on top of your January Challenge goals.

Do your 20 minutes of exercise in the morning. This is for those of you who struggle with the exercise side of things. 20 minutes isn’t an excessive amount of exercise, but it’s enough to give you a good workout and to improve your fitness. Working out in the morning sets you up for the day ahead and means that it’s out of the way, so you can feel good about yourself for the rest of the day and won’t have the excuse of no time or being too tired in the evening. It also encourages you to crave more healthy food throughout the day- who’d have thought!

Schedule a workout. If morning exercise really isn’t for you, then make sure to pencil your daily exercise into the diary. Be realistic. If you have a meeting straight after lunch are you really going to have time to exercise during your break. 20 minutes is only 1.4% of your day- you can make time for it.

Change your phone screensaver. To a motivational image! Be it that girl or guy that you admire, a picture of you looking a god damn mess (this one really does work) or a picture of yourself that you really love, this is one way to constantly remind yourself of what you want to achieve!

Buy some new sportswear or equipment. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, the better we feel about ourselves when working out, the harder we train. Get yourself some new gear and you’ll feel a greater urge to exercise! Also, keeping gym equipment such as hand weights, a yoga mat or exercise ball in the house gives you no excuse not to get a quick workout in at home. 20 minutes blasting out some abs drills and you’ll feel amazing- trust me!

Get a gym buddy! Training with somebody can sometimes give your competitive streak a little kick up the bum. Whenever I train with a friend I always want to work just as hard as they are and if I hear that they’ve been to the gym without me, then I have to work out! Nobody wants to feel like they’re getting left behind, so grab a partner and get encouraging each other to get moving!

Stock up on the good stuff. Fill your cupboards with healthiness! Ordering an online food shop is a great idea, as you won’t be tempted to throw in quite as many naughty finds. You’ll find that you’re more likely to eat what’s in, than to pick something potentially spur-of-the-moment at lunch or on the way home! Buying healthy snacks such as bananas, hummus, nuts or frozen fruit is always a good idea too. Unfortunately it’ll mean that cheeky stop off for a chocolate bar won’t be needed quite so often!

Tell people what you’re doing. Ever had that feeling when you’re supposed to be doing something amazing like heading to a big party and people ask how it was only for you to murmur that it fell through? Not a good one right! Tell people about your new fitness, health, lifestyle goals and you’ll feel a greater need to actually carry them out.

Write down your goals and be specific! Writing down your aims is more effective than you might think towards helping you to achieve them. Be specific about what exactly you want to do. For example, ‘I want to add 10 pounds to my bicep curls,’ is much more effective than, ‘I want to get stronger.’ You’ll be able to measure you’re improvements and feel more motivated to push closer towards your goal.

Don’t forget, any kind of exercise is allowed and it will depend on your ability, from power walking to yoga, long runs to sprints, swimming to boxing. Anything. Even walking the dog counts. The Tigeress Lifestyle January Fitness Challenge is all about improving your fitness and health in a realistic way. A lifestyle change to influence the rest of your year and beyond! Stay posted for my daily fitness, health and fashion posts throughout the rest of the month and keep up the great work! xx