Make Your New Year's Resolution a Reality
It’s not unrealistic to lose one to two pounds each week, and there are activity calculators and calorie-counting charts online to help you on your fitness journey.
Whether you want to manage your weight, or you long to sculpt your body, you have decided this is the year to seriously hit the gym. Congratulations on both choosing to get healthy and for setting this New Year’s resolution.
But beware the pitfalls of wanting to suddenly look like your favorite actors or athletes. A lot of hard work, and often times personal trainers, go into making those kinds of results come true.
Lofty aims won't be reached overnight, and after your first few visits to your local health club you may start asking yourself this question:
What was I thinking?
You’re not alone, and there are many people who will start 2014 with unrealistic expectations based on insane, sky-scraping goals.
Remember, if you start off with an objective as impractical as wanting to pump your way up to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s physique in only a few months time, you will come away extremely disappointed.
You need time, patience and dedication to reach your fitness objectives.
Dr. Martin Binks is the CEO and clinical director of Binks Behavioral Health in North Carolina, and he specializes in life coaching, weight loss and health programs. Binks has identified five of the most likely reasons New Year's resolutions fail:
Unrealistic goals
Expecting something magical
Surrounded by temptation
Too many resolutions
Going in blind
You must realize it is difficult to lose thirty to fifty pounds in a few months time even though many outrageous infomercials suggest it is possible. Whether you’re going to the gym to put on weight or take it off, remember proper fitness takes time.
Realistically, a healthy goal to set is either losing or gaining up to two pounds per week. If you want or need to lose significant amounts of weight, and you expect instant results, you will likely fail. Try something simple like aiming to lose fifty pounds over the course of the entire year.
It’s not unrealistic to lose one or two pounds each week, and there are activity calculators and calorie-counting charts online to help you on your fitness journey.
Take into consideration a person must burn 3,500 calories more than they take in to lose 1 pound of body weight. If a 250-pound man or woman just sits around and relaxes 12 hours a day, and sleeps the other 12, that person would burn approximately 2,700 calories over a 24-hour period.
If that same person set their daily calorie intake at 1,700, he or she would burn 1,000 calories a day which equals a total loss of 7,000 calories a week. Thus, the person in this example burned off two pounds in seven days. Now, imagine what you can accomplish if you hit the gym and exercise on top of managing your calories.
Also, you can’t expect to achieve your goals if you surround yourself with unhealthy and tempting foods like sweets and sugary sodas. A healthy diet will go a long way with your trips to the gym and help you make your realistic resolution happen.
Set and focus on one goal at a time.
If you do that, rather than trying to accomplish multiple goals, you will have a better chance of making your resolution a reality. Do your research, be realistic and even employ the buddy system. You will find making that trip to the gym all the easier to do with a friend literally by your side.
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