Another year has passed and he is still struggling with his weight. Most people don’t even bother making New Year’s resolutions anymore, because they’re afraid of failing again. If you’ve made resolutions year after year and haven’t reached them, keep reading. I have dealt with the same frustration of failing year after year and have learned a lot from my experiences. A new decade is about to begin, so make this your year to finally reach your weight loss goals and become the healthy new you. Here are some suggestions that have helped me achieve my weight loss goals.
Mindset and Motivation – To achieve any kind of goal, you need to have a great mindset and motivation. Think and write some reasons that are really important to you and that would help you decide to make this your year to be healthy. Maybe you are tired of being tired. Maybe you would like to run a marathon some day. Maybe it’s because your doctor gave you some scary news that you would get better if you lost weight. It could be coming off all blood pressure and cholesterol meds. Another reason could be to have more energy to play with the kids in your life or just to look good in that cute little black dress you wore years ago. Whatever it is, think about it or them and write them down. Now that you’ve written them down, make copies and post them around your house so you can constantly remind yourself of your reasons for losing weight. Seeing these reminders daily will help you remember why you’re getting healthier when the going gets tough.
Goal Setting: Setting realistic goals is critical. There are long term goals and short term goals. Make your long term goals first. My long term goal was to lose 50pds in 6 months. I felt like it was a good timeline for me because if I lost ten pounds a month I would be happy. Set a specific date and write it on the calendar.
Now for short term goals. Make daily and weekly goals. Daily goals could be to get some form of exercise or even make sure you don’t eat right before bed. Weekly goals could be to lose 1 to 5 pounds. Daily goals you can make a mental note or write them down if you are a note taker. Write down weekly goals in a planner or calendar. Find what works for you and make your goals possible. Make them challenging, but something you can achieve.
Find an exercise and eating program: Having an exercise program that you are going to do is very important. If you’ve always wanted to dance, there are plenty of cardio dance DVDs you can follow. There might be a certain sport that you loved as a child that you could get back into. Swimming is always a great exercise that you can also do as a family. There are many great programs available from fitness experts around the world that you can do in the comfort of your own home and fit around your schedule. I find that home exercise programs that come in DVD format give you a better bang for the buck because they not only give you an exercise routine to follow, but they almost always come with an eating program as well. When choosing a program, make sure you know how long it will take in a day to do it and if you can fit it into your schedule.
Do not follow fad diets: Fad diets will not get you to your goals. Diet pills won’t get you there either. Diet pills work to help curb cravings, boost metabolism and give you energy, however you will need to change your lifestyle to lose weight. The diet doesn’t work. Eating healthy and not starving yourself does. Most of the time, fad diets are difficult to follow because they are very restrictive or force you to eat soup all day. Who can live on soup all day? Just find an eating program that provides all the food groups daily and is portion controlled.
Take one day at a time. Even one minute at a time or one hour at a time. If you have a bad day, start over the next day. If you are faced with a situation and you are tempted to eat something that you know you should not eat, only eat a small amount. Relax and have fun, you are doing something really good for yourself and every day you should be proud of your small achievements. If you make a mistake, just go back to the game.
By taking these suggestions to heart and really putting them into practice, you have nothing to lose except your weight. Make this your year and start this new decade by living a healthy life, which will lead you to achieve your weight loss goals.
