Getting back into shape, and becoming healthier is the most chosen New Year’s Resolution. More than half of Americans make New Year resolutions year after year. Of that half, 75% give up within by March, and of the remaining 25% only a quarter of them truly maintain their resolution and turn it into a healthy lifestyle.
Reading those statistics makes it seem a little grim. The kicker is it doesn’t have to be grim. The statistics are what they are because people try to accomplish the task of making changes in their life without the proper knowledge and tools.
You don’t just work on a car or the electrical of your house because it needs to be done, do you? Of course not! If you want to work on those things yourself, you seek out a professional to educate you on the topic and the tools needed to truly complete the job. The same things go for establishing a healthy lifestyle. Without the proper knowledge or tools to stay on a progressive track, you will become one of the statistics.
If you have an idea of wanting to get started on becoming a healthier and happier you in 2013, then these tips will help you improve your odds. They will help you get started on being more successful.
- Visualize Your End Result: Create a strong image in your mind of what you want to look and feel like when you reach your goals.
- Get a Fitness Assessment: It's critical to know your starting point and learn your strengths and weaknesses.
- Create Goals: Set long term and short term achievable goals. Goals that build momentum with mini successes throughout your journey will help you keep your eye on the prize.
- Create a Plan: Goals without plans are only wishes. Stop wishing you were in great shape and start mapping out a concrete plan to get there.
- Create a Schedule: Scheduling reinforces consistency. Just as you go to other events or meetings on your schedule, you need to make your appointment with yourself just as important.
- Have Logged or Written Accountability: Use a logging app or keep a journal of your exercise, daily general activity, and all nutritional consumption, on a daily basis to be present with the day-to-day process. .
- Reflect On and Troubleshoot Your Excuses: Write your current excuses down. Write down why you think you make those excuses. Write down how you feel about your excuses. Write down how your friends and family members would respond to those excuses. You will be surprised at how impactful it can be to see your excuses written out!
- Hire a Personal Trainer: Hiring a trainer is the best way to move in the right direction. A trainer will educate you on what is needed to progress and stay on track. They will provide you the tools to be able to have positive results that will truly make your health and fitness a way of life. When searching for a personal trainer, make sure they have experience; education, certifications, and can are willing to provide references of past or current clients.
- Change It Up: Changing your routine every 4-6 weeks helps provide greater results by not allowing your muscles to adapt. If you have a trainer they will provide this through your program.
- Tell All of Your Friends Your Goals: Prior to telling your friends about your goals it is important to surround yourself around friends that will truly support you and your journey. Many people come to find that they have some friends that may want to sabotage their success. Surrounding yourself with friends who support you and your journey will provide you with a support system as well as accountability that will make you less likely to back out on working out, or make bad choices with your nutrition.
- Be Patient with Seeing Results: The average person will only lose 4-6 pounds per month based on the time that they truly have to put toward exercise. So be patient. We all see the shows on television that show extreme weight loss each week. The thing to remember is those people only have one thing to do each day, exercise. Therefore, they put in 6-8 hours a day exercising. Most people just don’t have that time. Therefore, 4-6 pounds is where it is at. With that said, you also must realize that sometimes it takes the body a little effort to get moving in the right direction. Having a personal trainer can really help when things are slow going. They will provide the needed support and other knowledge that can keep things moving in the right direction. Most of be patient and stick to it!
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