Happy New Year. I sincerely Hope this year is an amazing one for you and you get to experience personal and professional success whatever that might look like. Whether it’s losing a few pounds or getting that promotion at work. As long as you are healthy and happy right?
Ok, so let’s get down to it. This time of year is probably the best and most common time for making new resolutions, trying new things or committing to make changes in your life that before now you kept putting on the long finger. Why is it the best time though? Probably because it’s the start of a new year, sounds obvious doesn’t it but people see it as a time to cut the excuses and take control of their lives and boy will we see a lot of it in here in the next few weeks. And it’s great, it’s a great time of year to make some changes but make sure you start off right before you start at all.
Today I wanted to share with you from our experience why people fail at sticking to their New Year’s Resolution.
1. Not making Realistic and Achievable Goals
A lot of people have been putting off losing weight, getting fit or just improving their quality of life, sometimes because of fear. Fear of doing something new. Fear of what other people will think and then they want to lose it all yesterday. It takes months and years of bad habits and inactivity to do the damage and make you want to get fit. It is going to take longer than a few weeks to right those wrongs and see you back in the best shape of your life. Set realistic and achievable goals. The average weight loss that one would expect to see long term is about 1-2lbs per week. The reason being is that this is achievable and sustainable. Think about it; in 12 months you could have 52lbs lost. Now, isn’t that a result. Sure, some people will lose it quicker particularly at the beginning but in order to keep it off and not have it come back on it needs to be steady and consistent. Set yourself a goal of a stone in 12 weeks and see how you get on with that. Start small and go from there
2. Work/Life Balance out of whack
How many of you reading this right now have said to yourself. I can’t go training or looking after myself. I have to work, then pick up the kids, then cook the dinner and it goes on and on and on but you are thinking that you know you have to do something. Now is the time to take it in hand. What good is it if you aren’t fit enough to keep up with your active kids or even grandkids or you find yourself out breath climbing the stairs. You need to invest the time in yourself. Find somewhere that offers training times to suit you and your schedule. Get up earlier and do a bit at home. Set up a calendar and plan out every part of your day and every hour. Time is something you can make when you need to. Your health is so important. A lot of us take it for granted. Stop making excuses…
3. Excuses creep in
Leads me nicely into this section and we have heard them all at this stage. “I don’t know how to start. I don’t know what to do. I have tried everything and nothing works. I got busy at work. I am busy at home. I work away a lot and I am eating out a lot. I have a hectic social life. I have a sore big toe”…Come on people. Stop telling yourself these things. Take some personal Responsibility and take some action. Only you have the power to change where you are tomorrow by the decisions you make today. Yeah sometimes it’s hard but you need to know your why if you are going to succeed and it needs to be strong enough for you to push through all the BS. Ask yourself why do you want to get fit. Is it because you are sick at looking at this gut sticking out over your jeans. Well unless you do something about it it won’t change and the will to do something about it has to be strong enough at the start or you will fail. Where are you on a scale of 1 to 10?How much do you want it?
4. Too much too soon
Another very common reason people don’t stick to their new regime. You are so eager to start and get results you go full hog into it and put in so much effort so soon that you burn out and realise you can’t keep up that pace. You get sick of it thinking you can’t do it and end up in the vicious circle again. Read point 1 above again. Set realistic goals. Don’t go rushing into something. Start off at your own pace and progress steady but regularly. In order to that you need to be tracking your results. If your new routine is too easy and you are not seeing results then you may need to work a little harder but you shouldn’t be hating what you are doing – you should be enjoying it. Same goes for your diet. If it’s not something you can stick to long term why do it. You are never too old to start training and there is something for every shape and size out there.
5. No support
One of the biggest reasons people fail at their resolutions is how to juggle all of the above and keep going. You need support. When it gets too tough or excuses start settling in, you need someone there to push you forward. If you are not seeing results do you know why and what you need to change to improve?If you are carrying an injury does it set you back for months or do you adjust your training and keep going? Do you know what to eat and effectively to see long term sustainable results? Most people will answer no these questions. Some will answer yes but still don’t do it. Find that support, whether it’s a friend or a trainer but if you have failed on your own before lean on someone this time.
Don’t fall into these 5 Reasons. Now that you know what they are and you know you are not alone you can avoid them. If you want more support or information about our programs or how we can help click this link and request the free consultation
To your success
Mike
