Many of us use the beginning of a new year as that boost we need to kick bad habits and start a healthy lifestyle. Although it will seem tough, and sometimes impossible, it is such a worthwhile goal to set as it can significantly improve your quality of life.
In order to give yourself the best chance at sticking to your healthy regime, it is important to plan ahead. If not, January will sneak up on you, and you won’t know where on earth to start. But you needn’t worry about this taking too much time as we have done a lot of the groundwork for you.
We have created this “how to” guide to becoming a healthier you in 2015. Not all of the information in the guide will apply to you, so feel free to read it in a way that makes it personal to you. With a little organization and a lot of determination, we have every faith that you will achieve a healthier you next year.
- Do your homework
Start the process with a little background work. Read about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. When you see all the amazing improvements to your physical and psychological health that a healthy lifestyle can make, you will feel very motivated. Find out about what foods you should be eating to maintain a balanced diet and how much exercise you should be doing.
Use health organizations and government resources so that you know you are reading reliable information.
- Set some goals
Okay, we know you want to be healthier, but it is important that you are a bit more specific with yourself. Do you want to lose a certain amount of weight? Do you want perfect abs? Do you want to stop smoking or drinking? Do you want to learn how to cook healthy foods?
When setting your goals, be realistic and honest with yourself. If not, you might not be able to complete the goals you have set, and you will feel deflated. Set yourself maybe one or two achievable goals to start with. Once you have completed them, give yourself another two, and so on. When you start ticking off all your goals and feeling more confident in your abilities, you can begin to increase the challenge factor of your goals.
- Give yourself plenty of incentives
People generally find goals easier to meet if they know that they will get something in return for them. Of course, you will get the satisfaction of completing them, but often a little treat gives us that little push we need to carry on. Your incentive may be a day of rest after exercising daily for six days. Or, it could be something more, like a massage or an going to see a movie at the cinema. Whatever incentives you chose, make sure it is something that you find to be a real treat. However, at the same time it shouldn’t be something that could risk ruining all your hard work.
Some people find it easier to complete a challenge when they are doing it to raise money for charity. If this would work for you, you may wish to consider asking your friends and family to sponsor you through your more difficult goals.
- Make it easy for yourself
Try and remove any obstacles that might get in the way of achieving your goals. If you can’t afford a gym membership, for example, consider getting some equipment you can use at home. This could include a pilates ball, an ab carver, a skipping rope and some exercise DVDs. If you are meeting up with friends, suggest venues that provide healthy eating options. If you are going to a bar to celebrate a friend or relative’s birthday, have one drink during the toast and then stick to soft drinks for the rest of the evening.
However, you will undoubtedly come across obstacles that are too difficult to move. Just make the best you can of the situation and don’t stress too much.
- Spend time with other healthy goal-setters
As you know, starting a healthy regime is one of the most common new year’s resolutions out there. So, you are bound to know other people who are too trying to achieve a healthier lifestyle. If you can’t think of anyone, reach out to your friends via social media.
Finding a buddy who is in the same boat as you could do wonders for your motivation. You can provide support to each other if things get tough and you can celebrate achieving your goals together.
- Record your progress
Some people find it helps to record their progress so that they can see their journey and how much they have achieved. If you like this idea, you may wish to do this in the form of a written diary, a blog or using an app for your smartphone. Healthy eating and exercise apps usually involve the user recording the foods they ate and the exercise they did each day. These apps can be very helpful as they can do calculations like how many calories you’ve burned each day, how much money you have saved on not smoking and how far you are from your goal.
A blog or a diary would be appropriate if you want a more personal account of your journey. You may wish to add pictures, write about improvements you notice in your health and make notes on any problems and challenging moments. If you create a blog, you can share your journey with your friends and family. You never know, it may give them the push they need to improve their lifestyle.
- Be patient
You will require a good level of patience during this process. You won’t see changes immediately, so it is important that you remember this and keep going. As well as being patient with the process, you must also be patient with yourself. If you find something difficult and have a moment of weakness, recognise that that is all it is and move on.
After reading this information, we hope that you feel motivated and prepared to achieve your goal for a healthier you in 2015.
love this – such a good idea about being with other goal setters. never thought about that!