One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is a resolve to lose weight. However, since the resolution involves curbing one of our favorite pastimes, it’s usually one of the hardest resolutions to manage successfully. After all, who isn’t at least a little addicted to food?
How do some people stick like super glue to their New Year’s resolution to lose weight? What special knowledge do they have that empowers them with the ability to resist rich, delicious comfort foods? Do they make a New Year’s pledge to exercise every day and actually keep that pledge?
Yes, they do! And here’s how they do it.
5 Awesome Things You Can Do to Keep Your New Year Resolution to Lose Weight
When your goal is to lose weight, it can seem daunting to actually determine how to do it — much less maintain it once you do figure it out. Fortunately, your weight loss goals can be broken down into simple steps:
1. Make Small Changes Over Time, Not All at Once
Your New Year’s weight loss resolution involves paying more attention to behavior changes than simply to how much willpower you can muster. Just eating less shouldn’t be the focus of your weight loss program. You’ll have to learn to eat differently, cook your food differently and integrate exercise into your daily routine.
Be aware that doing all these things at once will only make it much harder to achieve your weight loss goals in 2016. Instead of diving head first into your New Year’s resolution to lose weight, dip your toes into this new lifestyle by throwing out your fatty cooking oil and vowing to boil, bake or broil your food for the first week of the new year.
During the second week, begin making small changes to your diet by substituting unhealthy snacks with healthy ones. Try to make some kind of change every week, but not until you’ve made the previous change a permanent one.
2. Be Nice to Yourself
If you think eliminating ALL your favorite comfort foods from your diet is necessary to achieving your New Year’s weight loss resolution, think again. You’ll self-sabotage achieving your goal if you refuse to reward yourself with a sweet treat or a small order of French fries every now and then. So be nice!
3. Daily Mini-Goals
To further break down your overall weight loss goal, strive for achieving daily mini-goals. Here are some ideas:
- Try to drink a glass of water before meals.
- Don’t take the elevator.
- Walk or bicycle whenever possible.
- Get enough sleep.
- Eat a healthy breakfast, including a few superfoods.
- Reduce portions by at least 1/3.
The feeling of accomplishing something each day can help you stay motivated to continue with your weight loss regime.
4. Use Smartphone Apps
Keep track of what you eat using free apps like LoseIt!, MyFitnessPal or Diet and Weight Loss Tracker. You’d be surprised at what you forget about nibbling on throughout the day.
5. Get Professional Support at Synergy Wellness Center
Offering affordable programs to make your New Year’s resolution weight loss goals a reality, Synergy Wellness Center provides lifestyle counseling, meal replacement/low calorie products, vitamin B12 boosters and many other services that will help make 2016 the year of the new you.
Call Synergy Wellness Center today at 661-878-9100 to schedule a consultation with one of our friendly staff members.