The 4 expert-backed steps that will help you reach your fitness goals this year

The reason why most people can’t follow a fitness goal might not be a lack of motivation, but the goal itself. Most people write unspecific, unattainable goals that have no chance of being achieved, fitness experts told Fortune. These pros shared four steps to take when outlining your fitness plan to set yourself up for success. 

Understand where you are in your fitness journey, and plan your goals accordingly

 It’s important to understand where exactly you are on the stages of change model, says Neal Pire, certified health coach and fellow at the American College of Sports Medicine:

1. Precontemplation, before you have identified the change you’d like to make
2. Contemplation, when you consider making a change
3. Preparation, when you have a plan to change
4. Action, when you begin to change
5. Maintenance, when you sustain the change for six months

Pire says a fitness foal likely won’t stick if you go from the contemplation stage (“I want to lose weight”) straight to the maintenance phase (“I will go to the gym five times a week”). If you want to lose 50 pounds but don’t have a plan to do it, Pire says to move out of the contemplation stage to the preparation stage by experimenting with different exercises to find the best one for you, or by educating yourself on how exercise aids with weight loss. 

“Sometimes it takes a year to go from contemplation to action, but some go through the first three stages and they’re exercising already in the week,” she says. “It’s a matter of how devoted they can be right from the get go.”

Be specific 

Having a nebulous idea of “wanting to lose weight” or “exercising regularly” likely won’t result in completing the goal in your desired time frame. 

Instead, certified strength and conditioning specialist Connor Agnew suggests following the SMART method (an acronym standing for goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) to devise…