New year, new me. Another year has started once again, and with another year comes a vow from so many to make this the year they reach their fitness goals. Vowing to get in shape is a lot easier said than done. Luckily, there are tips and tricks to keeping on these fitness plans until goals are met, or at least before that big spring break vacation hits!
The most important part of a fitness and diet is to ease into things, Rome was not built in a day and you can’t just change over night. Start out slow, start with a goal of going to the gym three times a week, the next week increase it to four. Same goes for a diet, allow yourself one meal that isn’t in your diet plan a day, then limit it to only five a week, before you know it you will be craving veggies over the sweets and fried food.
Although you may want results to happen over night they are not going to. Even the fittest people in the world took time to become that way.
Brier Hawkins, a sophomore accounting major, works very hard to stay fit. “The best way to stay on track is to know each fitness goal takes time. So don’t be discouraged if the results aren’t visible right away,” Hawkins said.
PsychologyToday.com advises people to make a long list of all the reasons you want to get in shape and change to a healthier lifestyle. Read this list every morning when you wake up and you are already on the right track to a healthier day.
Throughout your day keep track of everything you eat, this helps to keep you accountable. If you had a really big lunch, you might want to eat a lighter dinner.
There is a number of apps out there that have millions of foods logged into them so keeping track of what you eat it simple. Apps like Lose it!, My Fitness Pal, and My Food Diary all have calorie counts in them for the food, so all you have to do is search and enter them.
This also helps mentally. If you are making yourself enter in everything you eat, you may think twice before eating that bag of chips or cookies. These apps also have built in communities, so if it helps to have people working towards the same goal as you, you are free to reach out to them.
Kristina Maitner, a professor of health and physical science, reminds students, “The CDC [says] if ‘healthy eating’ makes you think about the foods you can’t have, try refocusing on all the foods you can eat.” The list of fruits and vegetables you can eat goes on forever, all of a sudden a diet is not so limiting.
Setting small goals that lead up to your ultimate goal also is a great way to keep you motivated. It might take over six months to reach your goal, but treating yourself after a hard week of sticking to a plan or after a month of keeping on track makes it easier to reach the long term goal.
Katie Agabiti, a senior social work major said, “Sometimes when I am busy I pre-cook my meals for the week so that way I can reach for a healthy option instead of snacking on unhealthy foods.”
This is solid advice, since a lot of times people claim they cannot keep on track because it is easier to make Easy-Mac then it is to prepare healthier options. Having a fridge full of yummy healthy meals ready to go leaves you no option but to stay on track.
“A short workout is better than no workout,” said Brett O’Grady, a freshman marketing major. O’Grady explained that even if you can only work out for 30 minutes on a busy day, it is still better than skipping the gym all together.
A steady workout routine, a balanced healthy diet are both two important parts of accomplishing your New Year’s resolution but all that will be worthless if you do not catch enough sleep.
Maitner said, “Depriving yourself of much needed quality sleep is one of the quickest way to derail any fitness goals. When you’re tired, you are more likely to skip workouts and make poor food choices.”
Ultimately when you are choosing to get and stay on track in the new year the best piece of advice is change your mindset. Do not dread the gym, think of it positively. Putting a negative connotation with the gym will only eventually make you stop going. The same mentality goes with the word diet. If you say you are going on a diet and are filled with misery, you are eventually going to go off that diet.
Think of this new year as the start of a life change! You aren’t dieting; you are eating healthy clean foods from now on, to not only loose weight, but to keep you healthy for years to come. So stick to your new life change and you will start to see results, feel better and improve your health. This is a new year, it’s time to finally stick to that new you.
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