New Years Resolutions are a great idea that seldom work. The reason that most peoples new years resolutions fail is that people will get a good idea and not flesh it out, decide what to do and how. The best way to be successful is to plan your outcomes and to decide what are the most important things for you. When you do this you have a much better chance at succeeding because when you need to make changes you will do it knowing why you are making a change and exactly what changes need to be made.

Starting to Plan New Years Resolutions

The way I start each year is by looking back, looking at where I am today and finally looking at where I want to be tomorrow and then creating a plan to make a better tomorrow happen.

With traditional goal setting most people just look at what they want and then create a plan to get there. My method of setting real New Years Resolutions is much better as it does not just look at myself as a superman and allow me to collapse as soon as any problem gets in the way of my goal.

Tools for successful New Years Resolutions

To start you must have a notebook and realize that this notebook will be your companion for the next year. Give yourself an hour to get started and know that you will likely be sitting down a few times over the next few days, if New Years Day comes and goes while you are in the midst of this process do not worry. Even though we always look at new years day as the switch that begins a new year remember that you are creating a map and a route that is much more important and long lasting than the flip of a calendar, the end of a day, or a fuzzy idea in the middle of the night whose idea of importance is reflected only by the thoughts and actions of a very few minutes.
Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

This week we went through a lot on goal setting and new years resolutions in preparation for a successful 2008. I have had all of my say now and wanted to share these links of information that I have run across just to extend on the principles we have practiced.

Glam magazine in Canada has a nice page ofr the six steps to goal setting as told by NBCs Biggest Loser show

Goal Setting and Secrets for Success

Before you start your new years resolutions you have to look back and reflect on this last year to see what you really need to do to improve. Here are 20 questions to ask

20 Questions to Help You Reflect the Past Year – Lifehack.org

Diet blog has 10 things that will help you succeed in your weight loss goals for next year

10 To-Do’s For Making Your 2008 Comeback

Once you have your new years resolutions set here are 14 ways to make sure that you don’t fail after you start
14 Tips For Resolutions That Stick in the New Year – Lifehack.org

OK so yesterday I dealt with goal setting as a good method to make new years resolutions instead of just stating out loud that you want to lose weight or want to quit smoking now. Now I wanted to go though a sample plan for how you can best get the process started with a weight loss. This is exactly the way I would plan and write it all out.

Goal: Lose 20 Pounds by April 1st (notice that there is an amount of weight and a date, nice and specific)

Why: I want to fit into old clothes, want to make sure that I am on the road to a healthier lifestyle, want to be more attractive (good reasons although the last one is a little vague)

How will I do this: I will change my diet by taking out refined foods now, eat more fruits and vegetables. I will start doing cardio Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings before work and will do weights on Saturdays and Tuesday evenings to start with. I will read a health book ever two weeks and I will change my evenings to be around more active and health conscious people. (pretty clear although this can always be expanded on, clarity will lead to a higher chance of success)

Measuring my success: I will weigh myself every Saturday morning when I get up and will measure my chest, waist and hips right after. To succeed I will need to lose 7 pounds a month which is just shy of 2 pounds a week. I know that this is a significant amount of weight. (Clarity of the goal and sub goals helps. Must keep top of mind that 2 pounds a week every week is pushing it but possible) Read the rest of this entry »

Last night on the Biggest Loser I found that the over arching theme to the show seems to be that people were working out harder than they ever had before. Actually some of the people did not even know how hard that they could push themselves.

Our mind is very slow to adapt when it comes to diet and exercise. If you live a sedentary lifestyle of years and then begin to work out your body will think that it can run let’s say 100 feet. So you run 100 feet and your chest is sore and you are out of wind. Now let’s say you do this every day and after two weeks you finish this “workout” of running 100 feet and you are still winded and your chest is sore. Your mind thinks that you are just as strong but really you could push yourself a lot harder.

Discomfort is a trigger to the brain telling you that you have pushed yourself to hard and no one like to be in discomfort. Most trainers know that you have a sticking point in your own mind where you think that you cannot go any farther or harder. This is just a psychological sticking point that is not real but just a level that you are not comfortable going past. The trouble is that this is the level where all of your gains come from.

I am a victim of this lack of pushing myself as easily as anyone else. The thing that helps is to remember before your workout that you are setting low levels of limits on yourself and to set goals every single time that you workout.

Another way that you can make yourself work out harder on a regular basis is to read and see success stories. I am sure that this is the reason that I watch the Biggest Loser and also the reason that success stories are always so popular in the sports sections in newspapers be it home run kings or the greatest quarterback this week kind of stories.

Stop looking at how hard you are working as being the hardest that you can work out. There is always a step farther, a pound more, a minute quicker. Try today to make sure you have great goals and you will make greater improvements in your health and fitness endeavors.

I have dealt with New Years resolutions and goal setting before so I did not bother doing anything about it this year.

You may have notices that I have not been posting much over the last couple of weeks as I have not been. I am working on a couple of projects and have been also taking some family time as well as time to recharge my batteries so today I am back.

My resolutions that are health related are just really to get back on track. I have been not very nice to my body and my weight has crept up to just over 200 pounds and I have not been eating or drinking what I should and eating and drinking much that I should not. I hop that maybe you have been looking at these things going on in your life and hopefully looking at how you can do better yourself as well as taking this opportunity to help others that are not sure of what they should be doing to get themselves living a healthier lifestyle. I know that I try not to preach to people what they should be doing but if I have the opportunity to just prod by suggesting something better I try to help in that way.

Remember, no one likes a “know it all” but everyone likes to get a little help occasionally.

Have a great and happy new year

Bill