It's time to focus on your New Year Resolutions.
And for many people, fitness, more specifically weight loss, is right on top of that resolution
list.
Unfortunately, even though many create resolutions, most end up falling short.
In fact, the Journal of Clinical Pyschology found that after 1 week, 25% of resolutions
are already given up on, and by six months, less than half are still being maintained.
Fitness goals are even worse than that, where every 7 out of 10 people gave up before meeting
their goal.
But if you want to be someone that do not fall into this statistic, following these
five tips might help.
Number 5: Make it a priority.
It's always simple to make a resolution, but many people fail simply because of the lack
of prioritizing their health goals.
A survey performed by the Social Science & Medicine Journal found that, in terms of most important
things in life, people ranked their own health second only to family.
But in terms of priority, it came in third behind finance and family.
Even with such high importance, only 20% of adults are considered physically active under
the guidelines of the U.S Department of Health.
It might be easy to say that your health is important, it's better to actually make it
a core piece of your lifestyle.
Number 4: Don't Do it Yourself.
It's often intimidating to look for outside support when working on a personal health
goal, but going at it alone can be a cause for failure.
In fact, one research found that individuals that had the support of 3 friends or family
members lost more weight than individuals going at it alone.
On top of that, only 24% were able to keep the weight off after 10 months when going
at it alone compared to 66% that had social support.
What are the benefits of social and professional support?
With 38% of people finding it too hard to get back on track once they fall off their
plans and 42% struggling to stick through a diet or workout program, a support system
can easily fix these problems.
Whether it be a trainer, a workout partner, a caring significant other, or your whole
family, it's always great to get some support that will both keep you accountable and motivated.
Number 3: Create a Plan.
With any goal, planning is crucial.
Fitness goals involve proper planning of not only exercises and nutrition, but also scheduling
your workouts, preparing your meals, creating positive and healthy habits, and finding outside
support..
It'll also help prioritize your health and give you direction on how you'll meet your
goal.
Make sure you set a plan that you can follow and keep yourself accountable to it.
Number 2: Be Realistic About Your Goals.
All too often many fail to achieve their fitness goals because the goals they set are impossible
to reach in the first place.
And usually this is not a fault of their own, seeing that the media is always advertising
weight loss success stories with people losing extraordinary amounts of weight in a very
short amount of time.
The National Institute of Health suggest that a more realistic and safe goal is a weight
reduction of 10 percent over a period of 6 months, which is roughly 1-2 pounds per week.
Any faster than that might not only be unrealistic, but even dangerous, with links to the development
of gallstones and electrolyte abnormalities.
A research also found that creating unrealistic goals where you are doomed to fail can cause
high amounts of stress that might increase risk of inflammatory diseases such as diabetes,
osteoporosis, and heart disease.
Keep your goals realistic, with both short goals, such as simply losing 1 pound in your
first week, and long-term goals, such as losing 20 pounds in your first six months.
Number 1: Be Patient.
We live in a world where we seek instant gratification.
We pick up our phones to connect with people instead of meeting in person and nurturing
relationships, pick up fast food instead of taking time to prepare and cook our meals,
pick up coffee instead of finding time to get more sleep, and even pick up large amounts
of debt instead of practicing how to save and invest our money.
If you try to take the same approach with your fitness goal, it's just not going to
work.
Becoming healthy and fit takes change, habit, effort, and, most importantly, time.
Undoing years of unhealthy eating and living a sedentary lifestyle isn't going to happen
overnight, let alone the amount of time it took you to get there in the first place.
You might not look much slimmer after a week of exercise and eating right, but along the
way you will start to see change.
Just keep being consistent with all the things you need to do and most of all, be patient.
What are some tips you follow that help achieve your New Year Resolutions?
Share your thoughts in the comment section below!