With February now here, we are well into the New Year and time to assess our New Years resolutions. You may have decided to adopt a healthy eating regime, perhaps your goal was to up your visits to the gym, or maybe you have been aiming to eat your five a day? Whatever your New Years resolution was, have you stuck to it? February is a good time to look back at the previous month and see how well you have done.
Many will have given up on their goals and got back into their bad habits, a few will have stuck to theirs quite easily, but a lot will be struggling with their resolutions. It is not easy to overhaul your lifestyle and change bad habits. If you find yourself reaching for the television remote rather than the dumbbells, here are a few tips, motivational quotes and ideas to help you stay on track.
Keep thinking about your goal. Make reminders of your aim and want you want to achieve. Create an inspirational board with images of a dream body or a favourite sports person who you want to look like one day. This will help when you start slipping back into bad habits.
Sort out your kitchen. Hopefully you won’t have any Christmas treats left in the house. But if you do, it is time to get rid of them. They will only tempt you to eat them more if you keep them in kitchen. Replace your treats with tasty fruits and healthy snacks instead.
Get a fitness buddy. Exercising with a friend is much more fun than going it alone. Ask a co-worker or a family member to join in with your fitness regime. You could cycle, jog, walk or hit the gym together. It will also take your mind of the work out if you are gossiping with someone you know.
Get fit at home. If the gym is becoming a hassle to attend, perhaps you are constantly at work or have too much to do at home? You could start getting fit in the comfort of your own home. This could save you quite a bit of time. Get some home gym equipment in the house or purchase a few fitness DVD’s to work out to. You don’t always have to head to the gym to get fit.
Make smaller goals. If you set an aim to lose 2 stone and are struggling to do so, then perhaps you need to change your goal. Make small aims and reward yourself each time you reach your goals. For example, every time you lose 5ilbs, you could treat yourself to an item of clothing or something else you enjoy. This will keep you on track and more determined to stick to your goals. It will also give you something to look forward to when you have lost those 5lbs.
Smaller changes add up. Creating major modifications to your lifestyle can be harder to stick to. Create small changes to each area of your life and these will soon add up to a significant alteration in your weight and fitness levels. For example, you could swap your chocolate for fruit and your crisps for rice cakes as a start.
Hopefully these tips will help you to stick to your New Years resolution. Even if you didn’t set a goal in January, it is never too late to change your lifestyle and pick up some good habits in 2013.