New Year, New Body! ...Seriously?

Have you yet to make a "New Year, New Body" kind of resolution you have actually kept?  Welcome to the club.  Fitness related goal is the # 1 new year’s resolution made in United States.  Not really a shocker right?  More surprising but still not such a shocker, since most of us are probably guilty of having done this in the past, is the fact that 1 in 3 of those people give up before January is even over!  And the rest that actually continue?  73% quit before reaching their actual goal.

If you made ‘weight loss’ your resolution for 2016 please drag it out of your head, crumble it up and forget about it.  Saying you want to lose 20 or 30 pounds is too vague of a goal for most people to complete.  Instead of focusing on that long term result you want, set up easier resolutions that you can actually take into consideration on a daily basis.  “I will eat less junk food”, “I will eat more fruits and vegetables”, “I will exercise at least 3 times a week”, “I want to learn to eat smaller portions”; these are more exact, easier to follow resolutions that you can work on each day and which in turn will lead you to your desired outcome of losing weight.

Be patient!  And track your progress.  If you didn’t gain the extra weight over night why would you expect to lose it that fast?  Setting unrealistic goals will only lead you to despair and most likely have you quitting before even really trying.  Instead of focusing on your end goal, celebrate each victory.  Feel lighter on your feet?  Not tiring as easily?  Your jeans fit you nicer?  Improved mood?  Those are all positives to be super excited about.  Weigh yourself, take your measurement and snap monthly progress pics (preferably in the same gym outfit) so you can have visual evidence of how much all that extra work is really paying off.

Please, please, please don’t go on crash diets!  Yes, you will lose weight quickly at first but once your body isn’t getting enough calories it will go into ‘starvation mode’ which will actually slow down your metabolism, making it harder to lose weight.  Worse than that, is that it becomes much easier to gain the weight right back once you quit your crash diet (which trust me, eventually you will!).  So drop the idea of a quick solution, go the healthier route and I promise you’ll feel better and also have less of a headache keeping those pounds off for good.

New year, new body?  Nah.  Instead, lets cheers to a 2016 of you working on your daily goals, celebrating each accomplishment and feeling healthier and happier in your own skin.  ’Till next time lovelies!