Staying Motivated in the New Year
The New Year is here and many of you have set your new year's resolutions.
Whether you have chosen to get fit, eat better, become more financially secure or spent more time with family, your goals and expectations are in progress and hopefully you are seeing success.
For many of us, setting a goal is not the problem, staying motivated is.
It is easy to get off track and fall back into our old habits.
One of the most common questions that I get asked in my nutrition practice is, "How can I stay motivated?" This is a very hard question to answer.
Not all people are motivated by the same factors and what might really help one person to stay focused might mean nothing to another person.
One frequent problem is that clients often set unrealistic or unclear goals.
For example, a client that I saw last week told me her new year's resolution was to lose weight and she wanted me to give her "the plan.
" When I asked her how much weight and what her time frame was, she told me she did not know.
Her plan was to continue to lose weight until she was happy with her weight.
"Weight loss" is a common objective.
The problem is that without a specific goal, we can never reach success.
Most of us start motivated and within weeks end up caught up in our busy lives, get frustrated with slow progress and lose our focus.
As a result, our motivation and our confidence fade away, as does the dream we started off the year with.
One of the first things that I do with clients that I see for nutrition counseling is to set up a game plan for achieving success.
Answer these questions to help turn your New Year's Resolution into your reality: *WHO? Who is involved in your goal? Who will help you reach your goal? Who will help you stay motivated? Who will teach you or train you how to do what you want to do.
Can you do it on your own or will you reach out to someone for help? *WHAT? It is not enough to say, "I want to lose weight" or "I want to be faster.
" Be realistic and be specific.
For example, you might set your new year's resolution to be, "I want to lose 5 pounds.
Another specific goal would be to finish this year's marathon in three minutes less than last year.
The greatest thing about setting small goals is that we are more likely to have success.
*WHEN? Once again setting a specific date or time is helpful in keeping focus.
You want to lose 5 pounds, but what is your time frame? Your new goal might be to lose 5 pounds by February 14th (Valentine's Day).
Another specific goal would be to decrease your body fat percentage 1% by February 10th.
*HOW? Finally, it is important to understand what you will do to achieve your goal.
Simply wanting something is not enough.
We must figure out how to achieve the things that we want.
If you are not sure, get help.
Educate yourself or seek the help of someone who can help you formulate a plan.
For example, if you goal is to improve your PR in the upcoming 10K, your HOW might be to utilize a new training plan.
If your goal is to decrease your body fat, you HOW might be to schedule an appointment with a registered dietitian and have a specific plan formulated for you.
Maybe you will write down everything you eat for 4 weeks, track your exercise and try to identify trends in your eating and exercise patterns.
The bottom line is setting smaller, concrete, attainable goals will increase your chances of meeting them.
The more small goals that you meet, the more confidence you will gain and the more motivated you will feel to keep it going.
It is also quite likely that these small changes will become part of your lifestyle, making it even easier to meet your larger, long term goals.
Lastly, keep a positive attitude! Focus on the positive changes that you are making in your life and do not let the road blocks get you down.
It is important to recognize from the beginning that you will have hurdles to jump and upsets to face.
The important thing is to stay focused.
Whether you have chosen to get fit, eat better, become more financially secure or spent more time with family, your goals and expectations are in progress and hopefully you are seeing success.
For many of us, setting a goal is not the problem, staying motivated is.
It is easy to get off track and fall back into our old habits.
One of the most common questions that I get asked in my nutrition practice is, "How can I stay motivated?" This is a very hard question to answer.
Not all people are motivated by the same factors and what might really help one person to stay focused might mean nothing to another person.
One frequent problem is that clients often set unrealistic or unclear goals.
For example, a client that I saw last week told me her new year's resolution was to lose weight and she wanted me to give her "the plan.
" When I asked her how much weight and what her time frame was, she told me she did not know.
Her plan was to continue to lose weight until she was happy with her weight.
"Weight loss" is a common objective.
The problem is that without a specific goal, we can never reach success.
Most of us start motivated and within weeks end up caught up in our busy lives, get frustrated with slow progress and lose our focus.
As a result, our motivation and our confidence fade away, as does the dream we started off the year with.
One of the first things that I do with clients that I see for nutrition counseling is to set up a game plan for achieving success.
Answer these questions to help turn your New Year's Resolution into your reality: *WHO? Who is involved in your goal? Who will help you reach your goal? Who will help you stay motivated? Who will teach you or train you how to do what you want to do.
Can you do it on your own or will you reach out to someone for help? *WHAT? It is not enough to say, "I want to lose weight" or "I want to be faster.
" Be realistic and be specific.
For example, you might set your new year's resolution to be, "I want to lose 5 pounds.
Another specific goal would be to finish this year's marathon in three minutes less than last year.
The greatest thing about setting small goals is that we are more likely to have success.
*WHEN? Once again setting a specific date or time is helpful in keeping focus.
You want to lose 5 pounds, but what is your time frame? Your new goal might be to lose 5 pounds by February 14th (Valentine's Day).
Another specific goal would be to decrease your body fat percentage 1% by February 10th.
*HOW? Finally, it is important to understand what you will do to achieve your goal.
Simply wanting something is not enough.
We must figure out how to achieve the things that we want.
If you are not sure, get help.
Educate yourself or seek the help of someone who can help you formulate a plan.
For example, if you goal is to improve your PR in the upcoming 10K, your HOW might be to utilize a new training plan.
If your goal is to decrease your body fat, you HOW might be to schedule an appointment with a registered dietitian and have a specific plan formulated for you.
Maybe you will write down everything you eat for 4 weeks, track your exercise and try to identify trends in your eating and exercise patterns.
The bottom line is setting smaller, concrete, attainable goals will increase your chances of meeting them.
The more small goals that you meet, the more confidence you will gain and the more motivated you will feel to keep it going.
It is also quite likely that these small changes will become part of your lifestyle, making it even easier to meet your larger, long term goals.
Lastly, keep a positive attitude! Focus on the positive changes that you are making in your life and do not let the road blocks get you down.
It is important to recognize from the beginning that you will have hurdles to jump and upsets to face.
The important thing is to stay focused.
