It’s that time of the year again. Have you made your New Year’s resolutions yet? Is losing weight on your agenda for the New Year?
Making a New Year’s resolution to lose weight and get lean might sound cliché, but it’s a fitting way to start a new year. For many people a new year means a fresh start and so it’s no wonder that weight loss has become one of the most common resolutions today. The tragic cliché is that far too often you hear statements such as “Oh well, I’ve broken my New Year’s resolution already!” However, this can be avoided with a little self-discipline and some pre-planning.
The important thing in making resolutions is to ensure that they are achievable. By all means challenge yourself to change your lifestyle but ensure that the goals you set for yourself are realistic. For example, chances are you spent New Year’s Eve indulging in alcohol and fatty food, so maybe starting a diet the morning after should be avoided until that hangover has passed. Instead, why not spend the first few days of the New Year figuring out exactly what it is you want to achieve with your resolution and what steps you need to take to get you started?
Begin by determining your long-term goal, e.g. to drop three dress sizes, then consider the time scale and a realistic weight or dress size to work towards. Once you have this in place, break this up into smaller goals that can work as benchmarks throughout the time scale you have proposed for yourself. For instance, if your goal is to lose 40 pounds over six months, then your monthly goal could be to lose seven pounds per month.
Once you have this down, find a gym or a personal trainer you feel comfortable working with, because you’ll need to develop an exercise programme that inspires you to keep active for the long term so that your resolutions are kept for this year and your new body maintained for the years that follow!