New Year’s Resolutions
How many of you have set yourself New Year’s Resolutions? It’s the time of year where it feels right to change things about ourselves, and that’s not a bad thing. Where it can go wrong is when we make so many resolutions, that we become overwhelmed, feel deprived and the rebel within us decides that it’s all too much and old habits return.
Rather than fall into this trap, read Vital Health Nutrition’s top tips for staying on track with your goals:
- Don’t have more than 3 goals to work on at one time. In the weight loss programme that we offer you set 3 goals every week: a health goal, a weight loss goal and a fitness goal.
- Make sure that your goals are realistic. If you are not currently exercising at all, it’s unlikely that you will sustain a goal of going to the gym 5 nights a week. Far better to give yourself a goal of going twice a week for a month, and then increasing this once it is an established part of your routine
- Make sure your goals are specific: a goal “to lose weight” is not motivating. But to lose 1.5lbs a week for 8 weeks (which would equate to a massive 12lbs – almost one stone) is motivating, and achievable.
- Write down your goals. There is an often quoted piece of research that says that people who write down their goals are 42% more likely to achieve them. The act of writing them down forces you to acknowledge them, and make them more specific.
- Make sure your goals are positive. It’s difficult to motivate ourselves to do something negative e.g. “to stop watching so much TV”, but if we turn this into something positive, such as “to read a new novel once a month” then we are far more likely to embrace the goal.
- Share your goals with someone else. It’s much easier to stick to new habits if you have some support (and competition!). I meet weekly with a good friend for a weigh-in and goal setting session, and find that it really focusses me.
- Commit to a weekly class, and pay upfront. Whether it’s a zest4life programme or a term of pilates or yoga classes, you are more likely to stick to something if it features regularly in your routine, and you have made a financial commitment.
- Finally: reward yourself for your successes! This is so important and so often forgotten. If you make positive changes to your health, for example cut down on your caffeine intake, then celebrate this. Buy yourself a bunch of flowers, and every time you look at them or smell them, remind yourself that you have them because you have made an effort to improve your health.
Remember little changes last! Good luck and let us know how you are getting on