Many people welcome each New Year with resolutions that will make their life better. New Year resolutions for healthy living generally include things like giving up smoking, losing extra pounds, exercising regularly, healthy eating, or changing sleep patterns for the better, and so on. The problem is that not many of us are successful in sticking to these resolutions. One of the main reasons why resolutions fail is unrealistic goals. Poor planning and lack of determination are other culprits. Here are some tips to help you stick to your healthy New Year resolutions.
- First, make only realistic resolutions or ones that you are confident you can keep. A realistic resolution is something that is reasonable and which you can achieve on a daily or weekly basis.
- Avoid making resolutions that you failed to stick to in the past. Make a fresh resolution and make the old goal a part of it if you want to.
- Having made your resolutions, it is important to plan how you can keep it. Setting manageable goals is crucial. For example, rather than setting lofty short-term weight loss goals, a better resolution would be to learn to maintain a healthy weight long-term.
- Let your friends know about your resolutions so that they can encourage you to keep it and remind you when breaking the promise to yourself.
- Don’t give up just because you made a mistake. For instance, don’t give up on your diet just because you overate. It’s alright to ‘stray’ occasionally – just ensure that one episode doesn’t stretches into an entire day, week, or month!
- Tracking your progress. This would help you understand what you have achieved so far so that you can make improvements if necessary for the rest of the year.
- Reward yourself when you successfully complete a phase of your plan. This will encourage you to move to the next phase of the plan.
- If, by the end of the year, you find that you haven’t achieved what you expected to, start afresh. Try setting short-term goals – for instance, see what you can do in one day or in one week.
New Year is a time for a fresh start and you should use the opportunity to make positive lifestyle changes. This takes time and commitment, but you can do it if you’re really determined. Make a plan that will stick and start small. Most important – don’t be discouraged by lapses. Simply resolve to work harder and get back on track.
Have a Healthy and Happy 2016!