People fail significantly more frequently with weight loss resolutions than with non-weight-loss resolutions. That doesn’t mean that it’s not worth making a resolution at all, though. Making a firm resolution leads to more success than just having a tentative goal or non-committal desire, with one survey reporting that people who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t explicitly make resolutions. While improving physical health is a common resolution among many of us, it also turns out to be a common failure.
Resolutions only really matter if you actually stick with them—but unfortunately, most people don’t achieve their resolutions.
Turn Your Weight Loss Resolutions into a SMART Goal
You’ve survived the festive season, danced your night away and now, it’s officially the new year! As you nurse your champagne hangover and pick the last remnants of glitter out of places you didn’t even know you had, there’s a good chance you’re vowing to be a healthier, fitter and ‘better’ you in the year ahead.
For many people, this means writing down New Year’s resolutions or goals.
A SMART goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. It’s best to just pick one or two resolutions at a time so you don’t become overwhelmed.
SMART Weight Loss Goal Ideas
- I will lose one pound a week until I reach XXX pounds in eight months.
- I will lose six pounds a month until I reach XXX pounds in one year.
Set the amount of weight loss that works for you: a specific, measurable number of pounds. Make sure the number is achievable and that your weight loss goal is truly a relevant, motivated desire you have. And be sure to set a deadline for your end goal to keep it timely.
In addition to your weight loss goal, you should also set a goal for how you plan to lose weight. Whether you plan on focusing on healthier eating habits, exercise, or a combination of the two, having a goal will help you stick to it.
The idea of a ‘fresh start’ can be just the thing you need to develop healthier and more uplifting habits.
The weight loss resolutions (new year’s) never works out the way you plan it...
80% of New Year’s resolutions fail within the first year. In fact, 20% of weight loss challenge resolutions are broken within the first week of January alone. Diets never work long-term, that’s a statistical fact.
Ask yourself how many times you’ve started a new diet in January, only to abandon it a few months, weeks or even days later?
That’s because diets don’t work – including those ‘diets in disguise’.
Diets don’t work when you start them in March, in September and they don’t work when you start them on January 1st, either. In fact, they’re even more doomed to fail if you start them on New Year’s Day, as they normally come from a place of guilt after the so-called excess of the holiday season.
So, there’s a proposition….
Beat the odds and succeed at your health goals
Let’s vow to make this the year we stop making weight loss or diet-related New Year’s resolutions.
- Set health goals, not weight loss goals
- Learn to love your body
- Be kind to yourself
- Make this the year you stop dieting or ‘trying to be good’
- Avoid the party boosters
- Be ready for cave-ins
- Positive resolutions instead of negative ones
- Involve people around you
- Take it a week at a time
- Choose a sustainable way of weight loss
- Stay Motivated
- Choose the right rewards
Follow The Tricks
- a) Check for weight loss blood tests if you think the weight gain is hormonal.
- b) Talk more about your health resolutions with friends and family. Discussing more can let you not forget about the resolutions.
- c) Go for healthy alternatives to food- baked chicken instead of fried, vegetable bowls instead of unhealthy snacks, home cooked foods instead of ordering from outside.
- d) Avoid events and get-togethers which are more food and drink oriented after the new year bash.
Writing a set of guidelines is always easy, which is tough to follow those guidelines. So take a notepad and write these down, because honey sticking to the weight loss resolutions won’t be a cakewalk at all!
