Simple and Easy Tips for Successful New Year’s Resolution

Written by female personal trainer, London based, Justina Triasovaite.

New Year – new me? Heard that before? Tried for few weeks, didn’t work – gave up. Does this sound familiar? In this article I’m going to give you a few simple fitness tips for a successful New Year’s resolution. These are tips you can use at any time of the year. It doesn’t need to be the 1st of January to start something new.

Understand Where You Stand Now

Often overweight people may avoid the mirror or be hesitant to weigh themselves. Other people may say weight is not important but knowing where you stand is very important. This is going to help you to set smart goals. If you are scared of weighing scales, you should definitely take a picture or measure yourself.

These are the best places to measure before starting:

Neck (under the Adam’s apple)
Widest part of the forearm
Wrist (above the little bone)
Slimmest part of your waist
Widest part of your hips

These are the best places on the body to measure to get an accurate indication about weight loss. It is also important to have a good look in the mirror and think about what you would like to change.

Set Smart Goals

Goal setting might sound like an easy job – I know I often set a goal of losing 10-20 kg. But in my experience goals like that are rarely achieved. On the other hand, smart goals are much easier to achieve. So how do we set smart goals?

- Breakdown your main goal in to a small goal. The best way to do this is by setting a weekly goal. This is much easier to achieve, and it feels amazing to hit your weekly goal. Weekly attainment is going to keep you going forward and ensure you don’t quit.

- Analyse your surroundings and set realistic goals. For a mother of two it is going to be extremely hard to go to the gym 5 days a week, but it is probably realistic to do home training twice or three times a week. Understanding the amount of exercise you can realistically achieve in your circumstance is important.

Write down your goals and share them with your loved ones. Often people get excited to join your fitness journey and they can provide support if you are threatening to go slightly off the rails.

Get to Know Your Food

Understanding food and following fad diets are two very different things. Instead of starting your new year’s resolution by trying a diet which your friend recommended try to understand what makes you feel good, and what makes you fat or bloated. A lot of people haven’t been educated as to what is healthy and what is unhealthy.

Firstly, it is vital that you get your nutritional knowledge up to minimum standards. Check out calories and nutrients in the food you eat consistently. You might be surprised by how many calories, sugar, fat and carbohydrates are in your favourite breakfast or dinner meals.

Having researched your diet, you should now check your basal metabolic rate. This is going to give you a rough idea of what you should be consuming on a day to day basis. Let it be your guide.

Try Different Activities

Not a lot of people are ready to start regularly going to the gym. But don’t let this to stop you from being active. Fortunately, you can pursue fitness goals wherever you are – a fast stride to the shop, taking the stairs and not the escalator in the train station or playing football with your kids. You just need to be creative and ready for changes. Think about the sports you played in school or college and find a local team you could possibly join. Finding some activity you enjoy is key to getting fit fast.

Before starting any activity or committing to a gym I would highly recommend you take on a professional to help you at least for a couple of months. Being a female personal trainer, I have seen many people who have quit their fitness journey because of a lack of motivation or a lack of knowledge. A professional personal trainer will help you find the right nutrition and will also help you achieve your goals much faster.

Resolutions can be fun, but the real goal is to turn it into a lifestyle. Setting big goals and following fad diets is not the way to go. Think smart, analyse, experiment, get others involved and love yourself. I’m here to help and if you follow these tips it should be easy peasy lemon squeezy!