It’s that time again. You know, the New Year, the resolutions, the changes everyone is going to make for the better. When it comes to health and fitness don’t make the mistake of going extreme and setting overly lofty goals. You will only set yourself up for failure and make things worse. People, who are in shape, make the commitment daily and challenge themselves to be consistent and make health and fitness an everyday habit. Starting the New Year off on the so-called best new diet or working out 7-10 hours a week is not the right approach. I’d suggest incorporating something small like telling yourself to eat 5 total servings fruits and veggies a day and limiting processed foods. Or, telling yourself you are going to the gym 3 times a week for the first month. Jumping into things too often, too quickly will lead to burnout and possible injury.
What do you do?
1) Choose an obtainable goal. To say you are going to look like a super model is not realistic for most of us, but promising to include more daily physical activity in our lives is very possible.
2) Avoid choosing a resolution that you’ve been unsuccessful at achieving year after year. This will only set you up for failure, frustration and disappointment. If you are still tempted to make a promise that you’ve made before, then try altering it. For example, instead of stating that you are going to lose 30 pounds, try promising to eat healthier and increase your weekly exercise.
3) Create a game plan. Write a comprehensive plan. All successful businesses start with a business plan that describes their mission and specifics on how they will achieve it. Write your own personalized plan and you’ll be more likely to succeed as well. Make your health your own business that you work on day to day.
4) Break it down and make it less intimidating. Instead of creating one major goal, break it down into smaller pieces. Setting several smaller achievable goals throughout the year, will help you to reach your main goal. Then, if you aren’t able to reach your final goal, you will have many smaller, but still significant, achievements along the way. For example, if your goal is to complete a 10K race, your smaller goals could be running a 5K in less than 30 minutes and adding strength training weekly to help with your endurance.
5) Get Support for Motivation and Accountability. Just be sure to set limits so that this doesn’t backfire and become more irritating than helpful. You want people to help you but not too pushy. You just need a little kick in the rear on occasion. For example, if you resolve to be more positive ask them to gently remind you when you start talking negatively.
6) Reward yourself with each milestone. If you’ve stuck with your resolution for 2 months, treat yourself to something special. But, be careful of your reward type. If you’ve lost 5 pounds, don’t give yourself a piece of cake as an award. Instead, treat yourself to a something non-food related, like a pedicure or a massage.
7) Get professional assistance. Everyone needs help and sometimes a friend just isn’t enough. Sometimes you need the help of a trained professional. By hiring a fitness professional, the chances of injury and burnout will be diminished. Research studies have shown that assistance from a fitness professional greatly improves peoples success rate. Just make sure you do your homework and find the most qualified person. Ask around, get reviews. Training with a friend also reduces the total cost of the fee.
8) Limit your number of promises. You’ll spread yourself too thin trying to make multiple changes in your life. This will just lead to failure of all of the resolutions. Stick with what you can attain and don’t make promises you can keep.
