Unfortunately, most New Year’s health resolutions tend to be somewhat unrealistic, especially considering the very short amount of time people allow themselves for achieving them.
Setting a resolution of ‘losing 10kg by the end of January’ or anything similar is simply a recipe for disaster. As most people are hyper motivated for the first couple of weeks in January, they happily put themselves through unsafe and tortuous exercise programs and diets.
But then that lofty goal is unavoidably and gradually replaced by thoughts of going back to work, getting the kids ready to go back to school, getting the house back in order, or any other mundane tasks that make up our lives.
As such, the daily exercise sessions drop off to every third day. The overly strict and regimented diet tends to relax. The 4 liters of water consumed daily soon drops back to 1 liter and the alcohol/coffee/soda that had been banned creeps back in.
Before we know it, February rolls around and we’re no closer to that elusive 10kg weight loss goal. Oh well, there’s always next year right?
As sad as this is, we see it happen to so many people each and every year. And here in lies the problem. Most people only think about the actual goal they want to achieve, rather than focusing on the long-term habits, actions and behaviours required to achieve it.
By all means, set lofty goals! But then also set and create lots of mini-goals regarding the kind of lifestyle you need to lead in order to achieve it.
Set some realistic, sustainable and long-term goals (for each month, not just January!) that include, for example, exercising 3-4 times each and every week, drinking 2 liters of water each and every day, eating frequent healthy meals each day and sleeping 7-8 hours every night.
These are all very realistic goals that can be sustained each and every day, week and month… meaning that when the next New Year rolls in, you won’t be wishing you could drop that stubborn 10kg once and for all.