Whether your New Year's resolution is to lose weight, hit the gym, eat better, pick up running or "get big" (i.e., gain muscle mass), this is the time of the year where those New Year's resolutions get tossed aside and forgotten about. How can you stick to your New Year's resolutions without giving up?
1. Make your goals realistic
The average weight loss is one to two pounds per week. This is healthy weight loss, and most times if you lose more than this, the weight will most likely be back around your waist shortly. If you want to lose weight, do not do crash diets or change everything about your diet all at once… — This this will set you up for failure.
If you take "baby steps" by watching your portions and eating healthily, you can achieve weight loss goals. If you are trying to gain muscle mass, you do not need to eat everything in sight. Not all foods are good for your body, and they can cause you to gain fat, not muscle.
2. Make lifestyle changes
If you really want to be healthy and want your New Year's resolutions to last for more than a month, make lifestyle changes.
Knowing the following things will help set you up for success:
• Low -fat and low -sugar foods are not always the best options. Be sure to read the nutrition label. More often than not, companies put more sugar in low fat foods to make them taste better and vice versa.
• Portion size is key. Everything is fine in moderation.
• You will not be perfect; do not feel down if you slip in your diet or exercise program.
• Changing everything at one time will set you up for failure, and cutting something that you love completely out of your diet or life is not realistic. For example, instead of two sodas a day, have one a day for a week and then a half of a soda the next week, etc.
• Eat what you want. When you deprive yourself of a food you "crave" and eat a lower fat version of it or substitute it all the time, you will still want it at the end of the day and will most likely still indulge. So, eat what you want — just use portion control.
• Have friends and family who support your goals. Without outside support it will make it harder to succeed.
• Change up your exercises. Doing the same thing every time you exercise will get old quick and make you want to drop your new program like a hot potato.
• Steer clear of the word "diet." Instead say you are making healthy lifestyle changes. The word "diet" tends to freak people out.
Be sure to grab The Rotunda in the future to read articles about healthy eating, exercise, lifting, gaining muscle mass and much more.