It’s the same thing every single year, isn’t it? You get to the end of December, and you decide after all that holiday season extravagance that your number one resolution for the new year is to shift those extra pounds. It sounds like a great idea at the time, but we all know that it never truly comes to fruition. What you really need to do in order to be successful in that particular goal is change the resolution part of it. Don’t make it some sort of special New Year’s promise, just make it a total lifestyle change! Here how to change your life to avoid that same broken weight loss resolution every single year!
A big weight loss target can be intimidating to some people, so break things down and make it more achievable by just doing it two pounds at a time. Burn off those first two pounds, then the next two, and pretty soon you will have achieved twenty-five or thirty without the big daunting number ever having crossed your mind!
In a similar way to the first point, you can make your weight loss journey feel more palatable by breaking up your goals in to smaller milestones. So, a certain weight by Valentine’s Day, then Easter, then summer vacation, then Halloween etc. Giving yourself shorter time scales is less daunting than thinking about it from New Year to New Year. Write your progress down too; that always gives you a sense of achievement and helps you to stay motivated.
Take your day a quarter at a time in terms of monitoring your eating and snacking. Pat yourself on the back if you get through the early morning having only eaten a healthy breakfast, and then continue for the next three quarters in the same way, filling the gaps with healthy snacks and nutritious meals.
Weight loss is always easier when you have someone to support you in your goals. Find a workout partner and make regular exercise dates with them. It is far too easy to give up when you don’t have someone that you have to face up to. Having a fellow workout buddy will keep you much more motivated and competitive through the year.
The thing that messes up most weight loss New Year’s resolutions is the fact that people go on crash diets and fad trends to drop some pounds quickly, but don’t think about the sustainability of the plans. Instead of doing something drastic, just make a total change to your diet and lifestyle that involves things you can continue to do every day without crashing and burning.