"Tips For
Keeping Your New Year's."
By Lynn Bode
The New Year is quickly creeping up on us. Do
you have a New Year’s Resolution? Well, if you’re like most Americans
(88 percent in 2001 according to a General Nutrition Centers poll),
you have at least one resolution. And, if you are like the majority
of these promise-makers, your resolution is probably related to
health and fitness. In 2001 (according to GNC), 55 percent promised
to eat healthier, 50 percent resolved to exercise more, and 38
percent wanted to lose weight.
While resolutions are well-intentioned, unfortunately
most people fail at keeping them. With all the hype surrounding
these promises, it’s easy to get caught up in them without really
taking them seriously.
We live in a throw-away society and even our
resolutions, I’m afraid, are not immune. However, especially for
promises that include improving our health it’s in our best interest
to not take them lightly.
So, what’s the secret to successful resolutions?
While you can’t wave a magic wand and make your resolution come
true, there are some easy steps to take to make it easier to fulfill
your promise to yourself.
• Choose an obtainable goal.
Resolving to look like a super model is not realistic for the
majority of us, but promising to include daily physical activity
in our lives is very possible.
• 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.
• Create a game plan. At the
beginning of January, 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 personal
plan and you’ll be more likely to succeed as well.
• Break it down and make it less intimidating.
Rather than one BIG end goal, dissect it into smaller pieces.
Set several smaller goals to achieve throughout the year that
will help you to reach the ultimate goal. Then even 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, adding upper and lower
body strength training to increase your muscular endurance,
and running 2 miles with a personal best completion time.
• Ask friends and family members to
help you so you have someone to be accountable to.
Just be sure to set limits so that this doesn’t backfire and
become more irritating than helpful. For example, if you resolve
to be more positive ask them to gently remind you when you start
talking negatively. 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 professional massage.
• Don’t go it alone! Get professional
assistance. Everyone needs help and sometimes a friend just
isn’t enough. Sometimes you need the help of a trained professional.
Don’t feel that seeking help is a way of copping out. Especially
when it comes to fitness, research studies have shown that assistance
from a fitness professional greatly improves peoples success
rate.
• 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.
On average only about 20% of us keep our New Year’s resolutions.
Unfortunately, some of the biggest failures are found in fitness
resolutions. But don’t let the statistics get you down. By following
the tips above you’ll be better equipped to fall into the successful
20% category. If you need professional help with a fitness-related
resolution, visit www.workoutsforyou.com
for help.
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