New Year, New You: Tips on Setting Goals

5 Tips to Help you Stick to your New Year’s Health Resolution...once and for all!

Be Realistic –Every year millions of people make resolutions that never make it past March 1st because their goals sound great at the time but are completely unrealistic. If you’re starting a fitness and/or nutrition program, you need to ask yourself if it’s something you can do for the rest of your life. If the answer is no! Stop, Reassess, and Start Over.

Find your Motivation – Whether it’s the teeny weeny polka dot bikini or 10 proper push-ups figuring out why we want these things and having that motivation as your end goal is very important. Having that light at the end of the tunnel will give you the motivation you need when the road gets bumpy.

Set a Timeline – Write down your goals, come up with ways to reach them (Be Realistic – see Tip 1) and set a goal date. For example: Goal #1: Lose 10lbs of fat (that’s your goal), training with Personal Trainer 3 times per week + session with Nutritionist once per week (these are the things you’ll be doing to reach that goal) in 10 weeks (realistic goal date – 1-2lbs fat loss per week)

Hire an Expert – Once January 1st hits the gyms are swarmed with New Year’s Resolution-ers. Many people don’t even bother to look at their current fitness level. Rather, they look to cardio machines and weights and just throw something together with the thought it will help them reach their goal. The best thing you can do is seek the advice of a Certified Personal Trainer and a Registered Holistic Nutritionist. Certified Personal Trainers are invaluable to showing you the exact things to do to reach your goal in the safest, most effective and shortest amount of time. Registered Holistic Nutritionists design nutrition and lifestyle programs which are unique to the individual's bio-chemistry and lifestyle patterns. Remember to check their credentials. You want a Registered Holistic Nutritionist with a diploma in Holistic Nutrition and a Certified Personal Trainer or Pilates/Yoga Instructor (depending on your needs and goals) who has completed all their courses, passed their exams and/or holds a diploma or degree in Exercise Physiology.

Learn from your Setbacks- It’s inevitable that you will have a minor or major setback along your journey. A couple of chocolate cookies in the big scheme of things won’t ruin your entire weight loss goal. It may set you back a bit and you’ll probably feel guilty about it, but that’s it. Relax! My advice to my clients: Take a deep breath, brush it off your shoulder and move on. Learn from each lapse and come up with a strategy to work around it next time. End of story.

The information presented here is not intended to replace professional medical care when needed. Consult a qualified healthcare practitioner for disease diagnosis, therapy choice, medicine selection and dosage.