New Year’s Resolutions can be slippery! The powerful feeling of a fresh start when the calendar turns is strong on day 1, but can hard to keep fresh and motivating. It’s totally normal to want to refresh your resolutions (and revamp your bod) come January 1. Before you get overwhelmed with a laundry list of goals on your New Year’s resolutions list, consider these tips for resolution success.
Set A Focused Goal
Goals like “getting fit,” “eating healthy,” and “losing weight” are way too broad and uncertain to be successful. To follow through with your goals, it is important to define exactly what you want to accomplish in clear terms.
Make your goal a SMART goal, meaning the goal should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. Instead of committing to eating more healthy — a goal that’s vague and tricky to measure — decide to incorporate at least one different fruit and vegetable into at least two meals every day.
Set Accountability Checkpoints
If there are no consequences surrounding your goal, it is way easier to make excuses, lose momentum, or even give up completely. To hold yourself accountable, you have set frequent checkpoints to make it more difficult to slack off. Decide to track daily, check in with yourself weekly and f you know you need frequent encouragement or tough love, set it up for a friend or family member to check up on you regularly.
Reach out to me if you’re in need of firm support for nutrition and fitness planning and coaching.
If you struggle to stay motivated on your own, join a fitness group like one of my accountability bootcamps, or set a non-negotiable exercise date with a friend so you can’t bail at the last minute.
If you work well under pressure, set deadlines to achieve your incremental goals. Track progress updates frequently, and even consider asking your social media buddies for a dose of encouragement on the hard days.
Keep Resolutions Manageable
If you pledge to hit the gym everyday and run three days a week, plus cut dairy, carbs, and sugar from your diet all at the same time, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.
Setting too many challenging goals at the same time isn’t effective.
Instead of creating a laundry list of resolutions, which can leave you feeling overwhelmed, focus on one or two goals and build on those with smaller action steps. Try setting mini goals each week for consistent and predictable progress toward your end goals.
Develop a Realistic Plan
Setting a goal without creating a plan with action steps is like building a house of cards. Things look good at the beginning, but totally unsustainable as you attempt to go higher.
Before you take action, make a list of action steps you can do each day to achieve your goal, then include weekly and monthly checkpoints to track progress. Breaking down a goal into smaller short-term goals keeps you focused and feeling accomplished. Those types of feelings will help you through the challenging days.
Reach out to me if you’re in need of planning support for your nutrition and fitness goals.
Make Resolutions Fun
A good goal is both challenging and exciting. A good goal will push against your comfort zone, but still be attainable. Think of the comfort zone as a bubble – as you get to different challenging phases during your journey, each push against the edge of your comfort zone is stretching you a little each time.
When things feel too difficult or boring and you’re considering giving up on a goal, it’s time to tweak it. If you’re eating the same thing too often or if the idea of endless miles on the treadmill four days a week isn’t making you feel motivated, look for new recipes (here’s my Pinterest board) or pick an activity that lifts your energy levels — go on an outdoor hike with a friend, join a dance class, or sign up for Beachbody On Demand and get access to hundreds of streaming workouts.
Celebrate Progress
Instead of waiting to treat yourself or waiting to have a progress party until you hit your goal, pause every now and then to acknowledge your efforts and progress.
Remember to stop and celebrate small victories – making sure to include non-scale victories like better fitting clothes and a more positive outlook. This will help you stay motivated and excited for more results down the road.
If you’re used to celebrating with a sweet or salty food treat, consider a new strategy. Occasional cheats and treats help keep us from feeling totally deprived, but they shouldn’t become a default celebration choice. Reward your discipline with a massage, pedicure, haircut, or a nice soak in an epsom salt bath.
Summary for Successful New Year’s Resolutions
Pick just a couple — no more than three — SMART resolutions. Consider making small nutrition adjustments or a find a program that matches your current fitness abilities that won’t require extreme (and unsustainable) changes to your schedule or lifestyle. Start with smaller, specific goals with action steps that you can build on as they become more habitual.
A key to successful resolutions is to set progress checkpoints and pause every couple of weeks to reassess whether your goals are working for you, and remember to celebrate your progress along the way.