Outsmarting the new year’s resolution failure odds is tough but there are ways to make it easier for yourself: Setting doable goals and then breaking your goals down into reasonable steps is a great way to improve your chances of resolution success!
Take a look at these 5 simple diet and exercise tips to keep you on track with your New Year’s health resolutions.
- Be positive with your goals – Don’t focus on the negative, but instead focus on what you want! For example, rather than saying that “I want to lose weight”, turn it around and say “”I am going to treat my body better by adding more fruit and vegetables in my diet.” Art Markman, PhD, professor of psychology and marketing at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Smart Change, agrees that this change in thinking works well when he states that “If it’s an addition instead of a takeaway, you’re more likely to repeat it until the action becomes an automatic habit.”
- Do a kitchen food clean up – To channel the boy scout motto, “”Be Prepared.” If unhealthy snack food is prominent in your kitchen, you’re not setting yourself up for success. Throw away unhealthy foods and replace them with healthier snack options like air popped popcorn, a nut mix, or hummus and dip. This way, if you’re in a snacking mood, there’s great healthy options to satisfy your cravings.
- Plan your exercise a week at a time – It is much easier to plan to go and exercise three times in the current week than it is to exercise three times a week indefinitely. Small weekly goals means you can a reward of success at the end of each week!
- Combine your exercise with what you love – Hooked on Games of Thrones, or can’t wait to finish work so you can listen to the next chapter of your audio book? Why not combine exercise with these activities and enjoy both at the same time? his strategy is called “temptation bundling,” and a 2013 study published in Management Science suggested it works to build your motivational drive towards your goal. Sounds great to me!
- Reward yourself – Research shows that anticipating rewards can help you be more devoted to your goal. You can almost look at it like bribing yourself towards success. Motivation can be a tough to muster, so why not make it easier on yourself by giving yourself an added incentive. It might be a night out at the movies, or maybe one of those nice coffees from that new café down the road!
All our best wishes on a successful and Happy New Year, from the Team at Phoenix Health Fund.
