Whether you are nailing your fitness routine, have forgotten your resolution altogether, or fall somewhere in between, use these tips to reach your goals.
Weight loss and fitness goals include a wide variety of considerations. Take a look at what you're eating and be sure you're approaching your intake with variety and moderation. Ensure you're drinking enough water each day. Find ways you enjoy moving your body and get your heart rate up to a target range. And rest. Be intentional about resting during the day (a.k.a. conscious downtime) and getting enough interrupted sleep at night.
Take a look over the last couple of months. Are you where you thought you'd be on your weight loss journey? Where are you seeing great progress? What has been the most challenging aspect of your fitness goals? As you consider your answers, use these tips to help you stick to your weight loss goals.
Be Positive
Attitude is everything. When you're on track to reach your goals, a positive attitude multiplies the great feeling of accomplishment. The same can be said for when you're off-track or behind on your goals. A negative outlook can create a downward spiral leading to a lack of motivation and goals cast aside.
Research and write some key phrases you can use as your mantra. You can choose to use just one mantra throughout your weight loss journey. Or you can have just a few mantras that are more catered to motivation to get started, endurance to finish, or help you remember your incremental goals. Keep the mantra short, sweet, and simple because you want to remember it, and you want it to inspire a positive attitude within you to keep going.
Be Consistent
Remember when you outlined your plan a couple of months ago? You were intentional to include daily activities to do and incremental goals to reach. Each day, every decision matters. Every bite. Every step. Every sip. Every thought. Even if they're small, they work together for big results. Choose to be consistent with your plan and accomplish what you set out to do every day. You'll be glad you did.
Grab your planner or Google calendar and map out a daily schedule to reach your goals. Be sure to schedule in rest days as they're just as vital as the most strenuous workout. Do morning workouts work well into your schedule, or do you need more time to wake up? Are evening workouts happening, or are you lacking the energy to get to the gym? It's okay to make schedule adjustments to ensure consistent steps towards your goal. You can also grab a friend to help keep you accountable for your weight loss activities and goals.
Be Realistic
This includes not expecting perfection. Your doctor or personal trainer might have helped you set realistic weight loss goals. It's important to set and strive for goals that are truly attainable for you, your fitness, your body type, and your weight loss journey. Just as your goals need to be realistic, so do your expectations of yourself to stick to your plan. No one is perfect. If you miss a day, get up the next day with more motivation to accomplish that day's plan or swap out a rest day to catch up for the week.
While your goals might have been a bit lofty, don't be too quick to throw them out. Be flexible to adjust your goals or change up your routine to reach your overall goals.
Be Victorious
Now how about celebrating even the smallest amount of progress? Big and little victories deserve to be noticed and celebrated. It helps to stay motivated when you stop for a moment and recognize your progress. You're working hard to reach your goals, and it can be thrilling to see your progress along the way.
Use a certain amount of caution as you celebrate. Enjoying a hot fudge sundae after each workout could negate the progress from the workout. Though you may want to consider an evening out with friends to celebrate several pounds of weight loss.
Enjoy your weight loss journey and the benefits of a healthier lifestyle. You'll feel better. You'll have a more positive outlook on life. Your mind will be clearer. Your clothes will fit better, or you might need to go shopping. You'll have more energy. You might even see some reversal of health challenges. Keep going and stick to your weight loss resolution.
Tell us in the comments how you're doing on your New Year's resolution!
