Every year, hundreds of thousands of us make a new years resolution of becoming fitter and to have a healthier lifestyle. For many of us these resolutions end within a day, a week, a month, year after year. Does it have to be this way this year? Here are some methods you could use to try and help over come this, this year.
If you want to make lasting changes, there are three things you can do to make your resolutions work all year long: Adjust your attitude, change your lifestyle and come up with a plan for success.
If you have the wrong attitude about fitness, you’re already setting yourself up to fail. For the majority of people exercise is seen as:
- Punishment for bad eating.
- An obligation.
- Painful.
- Time consuming.
- Impossible to sustain over a long period of time.
- Boring.
Do these sound familiar? If so, how long do you reckon you will be able to keep up with your exercise programme? No body wants to do something that is painful, boring or obligatory. Before you start your exercise programme you need to think about your attitude towards exercise and figure out whether these attitudes are true or just lies you’ve been telling yourself for years. Once you have done this you then need to look at exercise with a different perspective. Look at exercise as:
- A break from a stressful workday.
- A way to boost energy and mood.
- The only time you’ll have to yourself all day.
- A chance to get totally physical and let your mind rest.
- A chance to reward your body for working so hard.
- A way to improve your quality of life.
Some other things that you need to beware of as well are:
- Willpower won’t work. Willpower is find for the short-term success of your resolution, but looking for long-term success you will require planning, discipline and finding ways to motivate yourself everyday.
- Motivation will not just happen. What motivates you one day to exercise may well change the next. You need to recommit to your goals each day. This includes tweaking them so that they can fit changes in your lifestyle and attitude and find new ways to motivate yourself over the course of your life.
- You will not always want to exercise and eat healthy. Even the most committed exercisers don’t always want to do it.
- Diets don’t work.
7 Steps To Helping You Keep To Your Resolution
1. Plan on ways to get round obstacles before they happen. For example if you’re missing exercise due to family commitments, plan in a family walk or outing to get them involved too.
2. Try working out in the morning if you can. This means that you’ll have more energy during the day and you are less likely to have an excuse of skipping exercise because you’re tied or have to work late.
3. Workout with a friend or a group. When a friend or group is waiting for you, you’re less likely to back out!
4. Make a list of your goals and put them somewhere easily seen. When you are thinking about skipping a session, go back and read your list, and remember why you are doing this.
5. Keep track of your progress. When you reach a goal, set a new goal that will help motivate you to keep on going.
6. Wake up each day and ask yourself how you will make your day healthy? Plan your workouts the night before and prepare your kit in your kit bag so when you get up you are ready to go and there are no excuses.
7. Reward yourself. It’s important to give yourself recognition for reaching your goals. Treat yourself to a nice meal or a session off every so often.
And Finally, keep this in mind…..
- ‘It takes two weeks to create a new habit, so keep up the new routine for 14 days, and it will get easier from there!!’
