How to Keep New Year’s Fitness Goals

We have stepped into the new year. It’s the perfect time to take stock of your health goals and ensure that you have a sustainable plan in action.

It’s common for people’s energy and motivation levels to be high at the start of the year. However, they tend to dip after a few weeks, causing many people to fall behind their new year goals.

We share our proven tips to help you easily achieve and maintain your new year’s health resolutions.

1. It’s All About Having The Right Mindset

Whatever health goals you have in mind, make sure to be in the game for the long run. This way, minor setbacks in your fitness journey will not demotivate you easily, and you will spring back into action soon.

Treating each setback as a learning experience and having the self-control not to repeat the same actions are indicators of the right mindset and attitude.

You should also consider the reasons or sources of motivation for your health goals.

Are you trying to look and feel better, improve your health, energy levels, or gain confidence?

How would this change affect your current life and relationships?

Your focus should be more on cultivating sustainable healthy habits than on the results. Once you build healthy habits, the results will follow sooner or later.

Maybe you can try making anti-resolutions or things you plan to stop doing in the new year. It could be anything from saying no to sleeping and binging on unhealthy food late at night to drinking excess coffee during the day.

Aim for being consistent in your health and fitness journey. Block out time in your calendar for a set workout routine and make a firm commitment to show up as it is half the battle won.

Your health goals will be sustainable only when you learn to enjoy the process and journey. You can enjoy cooking food that you like while creating a healthy diet plan or exercising in fun, challenging ways. You could try a new healthy recipe or exercise form each week. You can listen to an audiobook while exercising to boost your performance.

Your fitness journey is a life-long commitment to staying healthy and consistent in your efforts and having fun while doing so.

2. Make S.M.A.R.T Health Goals

Your health and fitness goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.

Be in tune with your current situation and make realistic goals. When you have big goals to achieve, they can get daunting at some point in your fitness journey.

First, identify your weak areas and prioritize the most important ones you need to work on to sustain your health goals.

One hack to achieve your big health goal for the year is to break it down to small, incremental changes. Once you achieve the small changes, you gain confidence in creating bigger health goals for yourself.

Instead of creating vague goals like “I want to eat healthy food” or “I want to work out more this year,” be more specific in your goals. For example,

“I will eat a fruit when I have a craving for dessert.”

“I will work out three times a week for 30 minutes each session.”

After setting health goals, you need to plan how and when to achieve them.

Do you plan to run, jog, swim, or walk?

Do you plan to exercise in the morning, afternoon, evening, or night?

Do you have a weekly food menu in place?

After planning how to achieve your goals, schedule time for exercise and cooking healthy meals.

Start with small, incremental goals towards your ultimate desired weight loss goal. If you do not have an exercise routine yet, you can start by walking for 10 minutes and then extend the time as the days go by. Once you have a regular walking schedule, you can challenge yourself by trying a new exercise routine such as Yoga or Zumba or going to the gym.

By incorporating your action plan into your daily routine, you will form sustainable habits, making it easier to achieve your health goals.

Have a set timetable to achieve your smaller goals and measure them within a reasonable timeframe. Specify how much weight you plan to lose in a year and for each month and track your progress accordingly.

To stay on track with your health goals, you can team up with your friends who have similar goals and be each other’s accountability partners. You can also use fitness apps to track your progress.

Surely reward yourself if you have been on track with your progress. You can have a cheat day or go for a spa massage or buy new outfits if you’ve been consistent with your action plan for a week or two.

Monitor your vital statistics such as blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and resting heart rate consistently to keep them in check.

Make time to schedule your doctor and dentist visits in the year. January is the perfect time to reflect on when you visited your doctor last. Check with your primary care physician in Los Gatos, your dentist, and other specialists to know which screenings are due.

Block your calendar for your checkups in one sitting. It’s easy to let the year slip by and forgo your physicals and dentist visits. You can also use a calendar app to aid you in this activity.

3. Follow A Nutritious Diet Plan

You are what you eat.

The thumb rule for nutrition is to have more fruits and vegetables, protein, and complex carbohydrates. Limit or stop your intake of refined sugar, salt, and junk food.

You can read the latest American Heart Association’s (AHA) dietary guidelines, which have recently been updated in 2021 after 15 years. The new guidelines are more inclusive of people’s diverse food choices and recommend whole grains, proteins, and minimally processed foods.

You don’t need to change your diet drastically. Simple changes in your nutrition can work wonders for maintaining your weight and health.

Eat slowly and mindfully. Check with yourself for fullness in the middle of any meal. Keep your phone away while eating, and you will enjoy your meals better.

If you are craving something sweet, you can indulge in dessert. However, choose a balanced dessert such as chocolate with fruits, nuts, and dried fruit or frozen banana bites. Or reduce the sugar when preparing a dessert.

Get creative when preparing healthy meals. You can have vegetables in your breakfast on the side, in your savory pancake batter or oats porridge, and with your eggs. You can look out for and try new recipes.

Make sure to hydrate yourself with adequate quantities of water, and more so if you sleep for less than six hours of sleep at night.

4. Exercise Regularly

Make a firm commitment to exercise regularly. Schedule time for it and show up.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends you keep moving or be physically active throughout the day. Stand when you can sit. Walk when you can stand. Run when you can walk. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Try to walk rather than drive to places within a one-mile radius.

Did you know that walking up and down the stairs gives you a higher dose of energy than a cup of coffee?

A hack to sneak in walking is when you’re talking on the phone. Make it a point to walk every hour or so for 5–10 minutes when working on the computer or laptop.

Once you’ve been consistent with your cardio workouts, whether walking or jogging, add weight training to your exercise schedule. Buy a good set of dumbbells to build muscle and improve your stamina.

Challenge yourself with a new exercise move or routine every week or month to get out of your comfort zone.

According to researchers at Duke University, playing mental math games or solving puzzles is good for your emotional health. Keeping your mind sharp will help counter the cognitive decline because of aging.

Make room for contingency plans and rest days. If you cannot make it for a one-hour workout, try to do a 30-min workout instead for the day before resuming your routine schedule the following day. There is also a thing called too much exercise, so factor in periodic rest days in your weekly schedule.

5. Get Sufficient Sleep By Setting Your Bedtime Alarm

Americans are not getting enough sleep. While most people are used to having an alarm clock in the morning to wake up, it’s a smart move to set the alarm or reminder 30–45 minutes before your daily bedtime as well.

Switch off all your electronic devices such as your laptop, mobile, and TV as the blue light emitted from them can disrupt the release of melatonin, your sleep hormone making it harder for you to fall asleep.

You can start winding down before calling it a night by taking a warm bath, indulging in a self-care routine, reading (dim the brightness on your reading devices), meditating, and preparing for the next day.

Take Charge Of Your Health Today

With the power of consistency and tiny habits, you will slowly but surely make a positive change in your health and lifestyle.

We wish you a happy, healthy and wholesome New Year!