Some tips for keeping those resolutions

It’s less than a week before we flip the calendars and try to remember the correct year to put on our checks. The New Year holiday is one where people typically make resolutions about what they hope to accomplish in the next 12 months. Among those, exercising more and losing weight are among the more prominent.

Dean Despain with Gottsche said fitness resolutions are “huge around January,” and when working with someone “I try and reinforce that the decision to get in shape and be healthier needs to be a decision they’ve made for themselves, that it is something that they really want to do, and aren’t simply doing it due to outside pressure.

“Once they’ve come and seen me I like to have them use SMART goal setting, this involves: Specific — Be clear about what you want to achieve, don’t use vague terms like ‘get in shape.’ This is also the time to decide how, why, and when you will be doing it, this is the beginning of forming habits.

“Measurable — Have a goal that you can track. Weight tends to be the easiest, but can often be misleading, I encourage people to take measurements and use before and after photos.

“Attainable — Make the goal realistic. Saying that you will look like your fitness idol in six months is highly unrealistic, but eating more healthy foods, losing healthy amounts of weight, and increasing your weight lifted or endurance for running are all measurable, able to be tracked, and realistic.

“Relevant — Is this a goal that fits in with your long term plans? Does it make sense with your lifestyle and other goals? You may set a goal to be at the gym five days a week, but if you work long hours and have a full family life, that may be unrealistic and a 2-3 day a week goal may make more sense.

Timely — Give yourself a time limit or an end date. A goal needs to have focus, whether it is a wedding in the spring, losing weight for the summer, or being healthy in the long run, an end date helps to increase focus and drive towards your goal.”

Despain also asks people to write their SMART goals down where they can be regularly seen, such as on a piece of paper attached to a mirror or placed in a wallet, as this can help remind them of the commitment they’ve made.