Sticking to your New Year's Resolutions
Julie_Soar
Posts: 14 Member
Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolutions.
Julie Soar, Global Fitness Center, Stow MA
ACE Certified Personal Trainer
AASDN Nutrition Specialist
www.globalfitnesscentersma.com
Making New Year’s Resolutions is easy. Sticking to them is another story. If you can find out why your resolve diminishes after some time, you can help yourself overcome and stay with the goals you have set. I’m giving to you my best ideas on how to make them and how to keep them.
Create a plan.
Setting a goal without putting together a plan is simply wishful thinking. Make sure your plan is clear and has specific objectives. In order to succeed with any goal, it must have a clear plan of action. Merely stating that you want to be healthy is great, but something more specific would be better to focus on, like “I want to lose 10 lbs by April”. This is a realistic and attainable goal. Create your plan now so you’ll have it in place come January 1st. If you wait for New Year’s and don’t have your course of action, days and weeks may slip by without anything being done to accomplish what you’re setting out to do. Write it down and look at it every day. Or put that dress you’d like to get back into somewhere where you have to look at it each morning. (I like to hang these items on my dresser mirror.) Having your goals visible will help keep your motivation high.
Plan an attainable exercise plan for your busy schedule.
Planning to exercise every day is not specific enough and unrealistic. Look at your schedule and start planning what days and time you will be available to hit the gym or exercise class. Choose a mixture of activities that interest you and include cardio fitness, strength and stretching for a well-rounded fitness program. Make sure you go the steady course; too much, too soon will surely lead to burn out or injury.
Enlist in the guidance of a professional.
Everyone can benefit from exercise. But it’s important that you have the right program. Seeking the advice of a professional is beneficial to ensure that you have a program that will work for you and will not aggravate any existing conditions you may have.
Having fun is vital to exercising.
Finding a friend to go to the gym, exercise class or walk with is great for motivation and a lot more fun. Making sure you enjoy the activity is necessary as well. If you don’t enjoy running, try a group class instead. Variety is the spice of life; it’s true. Mix up your exercise program to stay interested. If you’re bored, you won’t follow through.
If at first you don’t succeed…
This old axiom is so true, but we do a great disservice to ourselves if we do not “try, try again”. If you sneak a snack, miss the gym or indulge in a craving, it doesn’t mean you have to give up. Getting back on track after a mishap is essential to creating great habits that will last well past New Year’s.
Julie Soar, Global Fitness Center, Stow MA
ACE Certified Personal Trainer
AASDN Nutrition Specialist
www.globalfitnesscentersma.com
Making New Year’s Resolutions is easy. Sticking to them is another story. If you can find out why your resolve diminishes after some time, you can help yourself overcome and stay with the goals you have set. I’m giving to you my best ideas on how to make them and how to keep them.
Create a plan.
Setting a goal without putting together a plan is simply wishful thinking. Make sure your plan is clear and has specific objectives. In order to succeed with any goal, it must have a clear plan of action. Merely stating that you want to be healthy is great, but something more specific would be better to focus on, like “I want to lose 10 lbs by April”. This is a realistic and attainable goal. Create your plan now so you’ll have it in place come January 1st. If you wait for New Year’s and don’t have your course of action, days and weeks may slip by without anything being done to accomplish what you’re setting out to do. Write it down and look at it every day. Or put that dress you’d like to get back into somewhere where you have to look at it each morning. (I like to hang these items on my dresser mirror.) Having your goals visible will help keep your motivation high.
Plan an attainable exercise plan for your busy schedule.
Planning to exercise every day is not specific enough and unrealistic. Look at your schedule and start planning what days and time you will be available to hit the gym or exercise class. Choose a mixture of activities that interest you and include cardio fitness, strength and stretching for a well-rounded fitness program. Make sure you go the steady course; too much, too soon will surely lead to burn out or injury.
Enlist in the guidance of a professional.
Everyone can benefit from exercise. But it’s important that you have the right program. Seeking the advice of a professional is beneficial to ensure that you have a program that will work for you and will not aggravate any existing conditions you may have.
Having fun is vital to exercising.
Finding a friend to go to the gym, exercise class or walk with is great for motivation and a lot more fun. Making sure you enjoy the activity is necessary as well. If you don’t enjoy running, try a group class instead. Variety is the spice of life; it’s true. Mix up your exercise program to stay interested. If you’re bored, you won’t follow through.
If at first you don’t succeed…
This old axiom is so true, but we do a great disservice to ourselves if we do not “try, try again”. If you sneak a snack, miss the gym or indulge in a craving, it doesn’t mean you have to give up. Getting back on track after a mishap is essential to creating great habits that will last well past New Year’s.
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