Battle of the New Year’s Resolution

Are you among millions who will be creating a New Year’s resolution this year? Are you also among the millions that will break your New Year’s resolution? Every year resolutions are made and either forgotten or broken before the year is half over. What do you think the number one resolution is? You got it! Weight loss and/or exercise.

Health club memberships increase dramatically in January, but the majority of these people will not keep their resolution. Often guilt ensues when someone realizes that their resolutions have not been met and maybe never will be. This completely defeats the purpose since making resolutions is to change a person positively and feeling guilt is not a positive feeling.

Let New Self give you some guidelines on making and KEEPING a resolution!

Ways to Keep Your New Year’s Resolution:

1. Find a friend that would be interested in having the same resolution. You can get together to compare results, exercise and rely on each other for motivation. It is much more difficult to disappoint a friend than yourself! Join one of the New Self Fitness classes – you may end up with many friends with the same resolution!
2. Write your goals down. If you just make mental notes about your goals you are much more likely to modify them (for the worse) if your initial goals were unreasonable. If you write them down, there’s no turning back. Keeping a journal is also a good way to track your progress.
3. Make the goal specific. When you write down your resolution, be as specific as you can. Writing a goal of weight loss or getting into shape is vague. Going to the gym three times per week or losing 10 pounds in two months is more specific.
4. Make the goal realistic. Many people set an unrealistic goal and wonder why it failed. Saying that you are going to the gym five days per week when you have never been to a gym in your life may be a bit unreasonable. If you really want to go five times per week, give yourself time to work up to that. In the first month, go three times per week, then four times, etc…
5. A goal without a time frame is a WISH! Attach a sensible time frame to your goal and adhere to it. Don’t delay and don’t give yourself less time than is necessary to complete your goal.
6. Reward yourself. Give yourself permission to take a day off or cheat on your diet. However, try to time this reward when you reach a milestone such as losing your first 5 pounds. Rewarding yourself should motivate you, so if you do it too often, it will not have the same effect. 
7. Acknowledge that everyone has a bad day. We can’t feel wonderful all of the time so don’t give up when you experience a bad day! A resolution is basically making the decision to change something about yourself. The reality is that you can make the decision to change, but you cannot actually make the change that quickly. If you mess up one day, it is not cause to quit! NO amount of mistakes should ever discourage you from improving your life! If you miss a day (or two) at the gym that doesn’t mean you should have to miss the rest of the year at the gym! We should learn from our mistakes … not quit, right?