Losing weight is one of the most common New Year’s resolutions. We’ll tell you how to successfully realise your goals and what helps in the event of setbacks.
What are the most popular New Year’s resolutions?
More exercise, less mobile phone, no stress? Now is the perfect time to change your lifestyle. Here is an overview of the 9 most popular New Year’s resolutions:
- less stress,
- more time for family and friends,
- more sport or exercise,
- reduce weight,
- eat healthier,
- stop smoking,
- drink less alcohol,
- do more for the environment,
- watch less television.
How can I successfully realise my New Year’s resolutions?
Setting new goals at the turn of the year truly is an excellent idea. A recent study shows that half of all people say after a year that they have successfully realised their New Year’s resolutions. If that doesn’t speak in favour of good resolutions! Experience has shown that it only takes 21 days for our body and mind to get used to new circumstances and processes. How to make good resolutions work:
Tip 1: Formulate your New Year’s goals positively
Do you want to eat healthier in the new year and are you part of the sweets team? Suddenly a bar of chocolate smiles at you. But you actually wanted to do without the sweet stuff. But your brain thinks: yummie! You suddenly have an inexplicable craving for a bar of chocolate. You have to eat it. Now only one thing helps. Forget your non-goals: “I don’t want to eat any more chocolate.” Instead, say what you’re going to do: “I’m just going to eat a piece of chocolate.”
Tip 2: Make your goal measurable
Want to get more exercise in the new year? What does that mean exactly? One hour a week, three times a month, every few weeks? You deprive yourself of the feeling of success if you don’t make your goals measurable. Specific goals are better: “I will exercise four times a week for half an hour from January”, “I will lose two kilograms in the next two months”. Set yourself realistic goals so that you are not disappointed and fall back into old behaviours out of frustration.
Tip 3: Visualise and feel your goals
Let’s stick to the topic: You want to lose weight. Close your eyes and visualise your goal. Can you feel your legs slipping into your favourite jeans and the button closing loosely? A good feeling, isn’t it? Feel in your heart how great it is when you reach your goal. This is the only way your subconscious mind can tune in to what you want to achieve. Of course, this is easier said than done. Therefore, pay particular attention to tip 4.
Tip 4: Plan for setbacks
Not everyone succeeds in implementing good resolutions on a 1:1 basis in the new year. This may be because they have not planned well how to deal with setbacks and obstacles, for example. Please think carefully about what obstacles stand in your way of achieving your goal. And what steps are necessary for you to overcome them. In the event of setbacks, it is important that you find a reasonable cause. So don’t say: “I just can’t do it”. Think to yourself: “What was the reason in this situation that I wasn’t able to pursue the goal well?” And don’t forget: Change takes time and space.
Tip 5: Don’t forget to have fun
Think about what gives you the most pleasure when realising your goal. If you want to do more sport, then choose a sport that is really fun – and not the one that will help you lose the most weight or build the most muscle in the shortest time. After all, it’s about you sticking with it. Don’t forget: Be happy about every little success.
Tip 6: Seek support
To stay with the example of sport: Find a good sparring partner with whom you do sport regularly. This can be very helpful. It may be even better if you specifically look for a group that shares the same intentions and goals with you. Like-minded people are best at understanding what is going on inside you or what you are going through. Sharing your problems and successes may even motivate you further.
