Here’s How You Can Keep Your Healthy New Year’s Resolutions
Tips for Keeping Healthy New Year’s Resolutions
2022 is here! A new year is always a time for reflection, setting goals, and making plans for the next 12 months. A lot of people set New Year’s resolutions at this time of year as well. A common theme for these goals is improving health and wellness. If you’ve made healthy New Year’s resolutions for 2022, here are some tips to help you keep them.
Be Specific and Realistic
When you’re setting goals, you’ll want to be SMART. This means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound. Goals that meet this criteria are easier to keep.
For instance, instead of saying “I want to lose weight” or “I want to exercise more,” try saying “I want to lose ten pounds by June” or “I want to go for a 20-minute jog three times every week.”
When you set goals in this manner, you’ll not only have something specific to work towards, but you’ll also have a clearer picture of what success looks like. This makes it easier for you to know if you’re on track or if you should adjust your plan.
Don’t set yourself up to fail by making healthy New Year’s resolutions that aren’t realistic. For instance, if you don’t have much experience running, saying that you want to run a marathon in a month is probably not achievable or realistic. Instead, give yourself a smaller short-term milestone and plan to run the marathon in a year, for example.
Set Milestones & Reward Yourself
If your healthy New Year’s resolutions are long-term goals, set small milestones along the way. For instance, if your goal is to work out three times a week for the entire year, set a milestone every couple of months to check your progress. If you’re still on track at these points, give yourself a small reward that doesn’t run counter to your goal (such as new workout shoes or a night at the movies, for example).
Setting these milestones and giving yourself rewards will help you achieve your goals.
Find Support
Everyone needs some support now and then. When it comes to achieving healthy New Year’s resolutions, it can help to tell a friend, family member, or personal trainer what you’re working towards. This can give you additional accountability and support.
Stick with it
It’s common for people to keep their healthy New Year’s resolutions until they slip up once. Then they fall back into old habits or abandon the resolution all together. It doesn’t have to be that way! If you fall behind on your goals or end up off track, that doesn’t mean it’s over!
Recognize what happened, refocus, and recommit to your plan. If you need to adjust your goals to make them more reasonable, go ahead, but don’t quit! Stick with your goals and you’ll soon see progress.