New Year Resolve
Posted 03 January 2010 at 20:05:49 by
Vanessa May
Posted in
Life Coaching
Do you always make New Year resolutions only to have abandoned them by the end of January? Well, you’re not alone! Often we set unrealistic goals for ourselves, so it's not surprising that when we fail to keep our resolutions, we end up feeling worse than when we started. Here we will look at how to make realistic resolutions and how to stick to them.
How to Start the New Year Positively
Research shows that although most of us will make a New Year's resolution, only one in 10 of us will succeed. However, it is possible to boost your chances of success. According to a year-long study of 3,000 people, men and women need to do this in different ways:
Men should set specific goals.
Women should tell the world about their resolution.
Men are more likely to have unrealistic expectations, and so simple goal setting helps them achieve more. Women on the other hand might be reluctant to tell others about their resolutions, and so benefit more from the social support provided by friends and family once they have made their goals public.
Also helpful is to think through exactly what you will do, where you will do it, and at what time. Apparently those who made vague plans are more likely to fail - for example instead of planning to go running twice a week you should plan to go running at specific times every week.
To help get you started we have come up with a selection of great tips across four main areas: Nutrition, Exercise, Holistic and Discipline. Use a couple from each section which you feel most represent a realistic objective, write them down in the front of your diary and try and use them as a bench mark for choices you make this year.
ThinQ Fitness` Five Great Nutritional Tips
- There is no need to go on a detox! Despite all the articles you read at this time of year, this is not the best time to do one, in fact Spring is preferable. In the middle of winter we need warming, comforting and nutritious food, so don’t necessarily make going on a diet your New Years Resolution. Instead, rather than low calorie, out of season salads, choose warming homemade soups and stews which are sustaining through the cold winter months. You will probably naturally want a break from all the rich food of Christmas so you’re quite likely to lose a few pounds without even trying!
- Resolve to eat more vegetables and fruit this year! Add up how many portions you eat a day – you may be shocked at how few you actually have. Good ways to increase intake is with homemade smoothies and soups where you can get in a lot without much effort.
- Write a food diary for a week. You have to be honest and include absolutely everything - every biscuit, finishing off the kids pasta, a cappuccino whilst shopping, in fact all the things you probably wouldn’t count if someone asked you what you consumed in a day. This can be a very revealing exercise and help you to pinpoint exactly why you may be overweight or lacking in energy.
- Aim to try out one new healthy recipe a week. You can do this by googling something like ‘healthy chicken recipes’ or ‘tasty brown rice dishes’ or buy a book specifically about healthy food such as ‘Food Glorious Food’ by Patrick Holford, which is a particular favourite with my Nutritional Therapy patients.
- It’s a classic, but giving up alcohol (and/or coffee) for the whole of January is a really good idea. Doing so for just a month keeps it realistic and achievable. Excluding alcohol will give your liver a break after Christmas, which will result in you going into the New Year feeling less sluggish. Giving up coffee for a month is also a good idea (though reduce slowly to avoid withdrawal headaches) and will help to boost energy. Removing both these ‘toxins’ will also be good for your immune system, which can have to work extra hard at this time of year.
ThinQ Fitness` Five Great Exercise Tips
- Enthusiasm wanes and sets you up for disappointment, so tip one has to be, start as you mean to go on. It is very unlikely that x5 exercise sessions starting at 5am in the morning will be sustainable long term, so don’t do it!!! Aim to achieve x2 hour long sessions on a Saturday and a Wednesday (or similarly spaced out) and then build a third in when it’s possible.
- Use the PRE (Perceived Rate of Exertion) as a way of measuring if you are working hard enough and worry less about technical monitoring and taking your heart rate/pulse etc. Ask yourself how hard you feel you are working on a scale of 1-10 and then adjust your workout up or down, so that you work around a 7 or 8 for at least 20 minutes.
- Worry less about “Fat Burning Zones” and “Heart Rat Max” as this can be off putting if you are relatively new. Always feel you are challenging yourself and try to feel yourself breathing heavily in cardio and aching in conditioning/weight type work.
- Remember exercise is accumulatively beneficial; your x2 classes a week will boost your energy to perhaps tackle the backlog of household chores, or the rubbish which has accumulated in the garden. Going to the tip, going to deposit clothes at Oxfam, washing, cleaning, sorting out are all ways to lift your spirits and give you a feeling of satisfaction AND they all burn calories and tone muscles.
- What do we want to be fit for? Lets be specific, your quality of life can improve as you make fitness a part of your lifestyle. You may join a salsa club, you may decide that its horses you secretly love and need to be fit for your once a month riding treat, it may be that the extra energy can be used to sparkle up your love life a bit, it may be that being in a better mood attracts you to people who want you to be your friends. In other words, being fit allows you to open doors to other things.
ThinQ Fitness` Five Great Holistic Tips
- Evidence has shown that connecting with nature can boost your mood. A winter walk in the park or by the river on a fresh sunny day can be invigorating and can help avoid SAD (see my previous article ‘Winter Blues’)
- Learn something new - it will keep the mind stimulated and can even improve confidence. Whether it’s taking up knitting or learning a new language at evening class, you should definitely experience a sense of achievement.
- Give back to the community - it can be just as rewarding for you as those you choose to help, whether it’s helping out at your child’s school or raising money for charity.
- Never under-estimate the power of positive thinking! Try to develop a glass half full as opposed to a glass half empty mentality. Optimists have a much happier time than pessimists! ‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne is a great inspirational book about attracting good things towards you.
- There is evidence that sleep is important for the health of both body and mind. One study suggests that strategies to improve sleep quality and quantity may help to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. Other research has linked sleep habits with conditions including cardiovascular disease, so make sure you get enough.
ThinQ Fitness` Five Great Discipline Tips
- As we’ve said, set realistic resolutions, setting a time limit if necessary. Be determined to reach the goal you have set for yourself.
- Promise yourself a reward if you achieve what you set out to do. This can be anything from a new dress to a trip to the theatre.
- Get organised. If your resolution is to eat a healthier diet, then make sure you have planned your meals and shopped for them in advance so that you don’t find yourself getting home late from work with nothing in the fridge and resorting to ordering a takeaway.
- Don’t go it alone. If you are resolving to get fit or give up smoking for example, doing so with a friend can help. You can support each other if one of you weakens and spur each other on to achieve what you both set out to do.
- Don’t give up if you have a setback. If you have a cake or a cigarette one day, it doesn’t mean you have to jack the whole thing in! Begin again the next day and don’t berate yourself – no one is perfect and some people find it harder to be disciplined than others.
Article by Vanessa May, BSc Nut Med, NTC and BANT reg.
Exercise tips contributed by Lucy Case
www.wellbeingandnutrition.co.uk
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