FITNESS: How to stick to New Year resolutions

So, January is here and every gym in the city is booming! Full of fitness freaks that ate a little too much over the festive period and those who have decided to make 2017 their year to become fit.
So many of us set new years resolutions and they often include some fitness related resolutions. The fitness related resolutions are almost the hardest to keep.
Below we’ve come up with some ideas and tips to help you stick to your new year resolutions

• Firstly, don’t decide to change everything all at one. Most of us decide to start a new diet and fitness regime the first Monday after New Year, that’s are first problem. DIETS DON’T WORK. Ok, they do until you stop the diet, have a night out or become ill. All you have to do is eat clean and relatively healthy. Don’t change your whole eating plan all together. Start off by switching your breakfast to a healthier option. The following week change your breakfast and dinner to healthy options and so on. Eventually you will have the perfect diet and will be able to stick to it consistently.

• Another way to help you stick to your fitness resolutions is to choose to do something you enjoy. We understand the best way to lose weight is the right combination of eating healthy, lifting weights and cardio. But we also understand that lifting weight in the gym isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. This leads to people becoming bored of the gym and eventually stop going. By finding an exercise class such as BodyPump, Insanity or Metafit this will become a more fun way of becoming fitter. There is a huge variety of fitness classes available in Liverpool to suit everyones needs and personality. Most fitness classes also change every three months so this will also keep workouts feeling fresh.

• Treat yourself to a shiny new workout rig-out. If you spend money on gym gear your more likely to want to use it than leave it collecting dust in your wardrobe till next year! We don’t mean spend hundreds on gym gear but treating yourself is a good way to motivate yourself. By buying new gear you will also feel better about yourself. Every three months treat yourself to a new workout top or yoga mat if you meet your goals.

• Speaking of goals, be realistic! This is another huge problem when it comes to sticking to your new year resolutions. Many people set unrealistic, unachievable goals! Saying you want to lose 3 stone in your first month of training is pretty unrealistic and eventually will leave you feeling bad about yourself. Sit down and set SMART goals. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Times. Basically at new year we don’t want to be setting goals like ‘I want to lose a few pounds before I go zante with the lads/girls’ and should be setting goals like ‘id like to lose 1lb a week for the next three months’. By setting SMART goals we are much likely to be able to stick to them and achieve them. Plus setting smaller tagerts to lead to a bigger goal will keep us going when we see changes starting to be happy.

• Sticking with goals, give them time. Many people start a fitness and healthy eating plan and expect to see changes happen immediately. Well that doesn’t happen, well unless you try a fad diet that leads to gaining more weight eventually (but that for another article). Sadly, there isn’t no quick fix and we just need to be consistent with our eating and diets to see them goals. The good news is when we are consistent with training and eating, we boost out metabolism so the weight stays away and we live a healthier lifestyle.

• So for the new year we want to lose weight, so naturally we think ‘OMG I need to starve to lose weight’. Well the truth is, we need to eat, and eat lots. By cutting out the calories we will lose weight but soon as we eat anything naughty, BOOM hello body fat right on your stomach! Eat for what your body needs and eat relatively clean. Eat to boost your metabolism. Metabolism burns fat.

So there you have it, a couple of tips to help you stick to your new year fitness resolutions. If you have any more questions or having trouble sticking to you goals a personal trainer is a great way to keep you on track.

My Fitness Agent has a number of excellent qualified personal trainers available. You can even search the database to find one that’s perfect just for you!

For more information visit www.facebook.com/myfitnessagent or email myfitnessagent@gmail.com for more information.

Jason Porter
Fitness Writer & Presenter
My Fitness Agent / The Guide Liverpool