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For must of us, the concept of getting ourselves into shape is daunting, to say the least. Our minds seem to instantly conjure images of getting up before the crack of dawn and working exceptionally hard before our eyes are even really open yet. We do this because we believe and hope that this is the only way to get into shape. In reality, the picture we hold in our minds is much more grim than the reality.

Although a regular exercise plan, combined with an intelligent and healthy diet, are the only real ways to ensure that you stay in good shape throughout your life, there are actually some things you can to help yourself get into shape fast. None of them include ordering anything off a television infomercial either.

Contrary to the commercials and testimonials you often see on late night television, there is no overnight solution to getting into shape. The shape you're currently in is due to bad lifestyle habits and you need to change those if you're going to stay in shape. Forming a new habit takes three or four weeks for most people. I know that isn't exactly what you want to hear, but you're not going to do yourself any good if you hold unrealistic expectations in your mind.

One of the biggest problems facing most people who attempt to get into shape is the fact that they have a hard time finding good information and, too often, suck into popular mythology and make some very common mistakes in their quest to get into shape quickly.

If you're looking to improve your health and physical fitness, below are five extremely common mistakes you need to avoid. Learning about what not to do is often as important as learning about what to do, so keep these things in mind.

1.Starvation
When they want to lose weight, too many people decide that they will just cut way back on what they eat. This puts your body into conservation mode, which will lower your metabolism and force you to burn fat more slowly.

When you start eating normally again, which you inevitably will, your body will still be in conservation n mode for awhile and you will put on even more weight. For many people, this becomes a vicious cycle and is largely responsible for the 'yo-yo' phenomenon in weight loss.

2.Bathroom Scale Worship
People always talk about weight loss, but they don't mean they just want to lose weight: they want to lose fat. The bathroom scale, however, doesn't differentiate between fat and muscle and, after all, muscle weighs more than fat. If you only measure your success or failure based on the number you see just beyond your toes, you're going to be chasing your tail forever.

3.Bingeing on 'No Fat' or 'Low Fat' Foods
Just because something is 'low fat' or 'no fat' doesn't mean it doesn't contain calories. The simple reality is that whenever you take in more calories than you burn, you gain weight. When you burn more calories than you take in, you lose weight.

4.Short Term Planning
Most people have a short term goal in mind and, therefore, they have a short term plan. The desire to lose 10 pounds is a wonderful place to start from, but if you don't have a plan for sustaining your new weight then all of your efforts will be for naught. You need to make a lifelong commitment to a new way of living, pure and simple.

5.'I'm an Overweight Person Trying to Lose Weight'
While the actual thought varies from person-to-person, this way of thinking is probably the most fundamental mistake people make when trying to lose weight, get into shape or, realistically, make any change. We become the person we believe we are, pure and simple. The self talk inside our minds has a profound impact on our reality, so you need to get your self talk under control and keep it positive. You're a 'healthy person returning to normal,' not an 'unhealthy person trying to get healthy.'