How to Stick to Your Weight Loss Resolution for Real

The New Year is always the best time to start fresh for a lot of people and you are no exception if you have made the resolve to finally lose weight. In fact, the SBRI or Statistic Brain Research Institute has established in 2015 that losing weight is the top New Year’s resolution that was made by people based on their survey. You are right in taking advantage of this opportunity while your adrenaline is still up and everything else is so new and exciting. Meanwhile, you too are aware that the real challenge is with sticking to your health resolutions for the rest of the year. By next month, that resolve can dwindle and old habits can gnaw at you again. This is a reality for most individuals.

As such, it is important that to start right, you should already have a definite plan handy to help you stick to your weight loss goals successfully. Check out these easy strategies that you can employ to help you stay motivated and determined.

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1. Do it for your health and well-being

Since the purpose is to stay consistent with your weight loss efforts, it is but logical to set long-term goals along with it as well. In this way, you can keep in mind that it isn’t just meant to be done on a whim but with a definite purpose that it is for the long haul. The only way you will be motivated to lose weight for the long term is when your goal is to continually improve your overall health. When you do it for healthiness, you know that it doesn’t stop after some time but continues as part of a lifestyle. Yes, you can have looking slim and trim as one of your purposes, but because you may not be as conscious about your appearance than you are about being healthy and being free of disease, it may not be enough to get you going. So don’t just do it to improve your outside appearance but do it for the sake of your wellness and ultimately, for a happier you.

2. Prepare your own food

There is a reason why instant food is not helping you lose weight and that’s because what’s in it is either fattening or unhealthy, or even both. The best way to combat this is prepare your food way ahead of time. Research has shown that when you already know what you will eat for the day or for the week, you become empowered to arrive at healthier choices that are in line with your weight management program. Otherwise, you can end up eating anything that’s in front of you, binge eating at a restaurant, or ordering fast food.

Unless you take time to prepare your food, your choices will often be unhealthy. So at the start of each week, plan and prepare your meals to make sticking to your diet plan easier. They don’t have to be grand meals that take you hours to prepare. You can simply have grilled protein, pre-cut veggies, or pre-made grains which will come in handy each time. What’s cool is that you can store your food according to your calorie goals using Beachbody’s Portion Fix Containers. With this, you will be able to monitor your daily consumption in specific serving sizes with color codes that match the major macronutrients. The Beachbody nutrition plan will be your guide as to the breakdown and number of colored containers that you can have everyday based on the calorie range that you have set for your weight loss.

Learning how to cook can also be very exciting using the basic kitchen gadgets like pots, blenders, measuring cups, wooden spoons, and the like. So many cooking shows to choose from including FIXATE which is a 21-day Fix-approved show by creator and host, Autumn Calabrese together with chef Bobby Calabrese. It will be like attending a culinary crash course and acquiring a bag of tricks full of easy, healthy weight loss recipes.

3. Develop a breakfast habit

Start your day right by eating a nourishing meal. A well-balanced breakfast will launch a healthy domino effect throughout the rest of your day and that’s why it’s a crucial habit to develop. Having eaten a nutritious meal first thing in the morning will make you want to stay consistent throughout your other meals or snacks because you would not want to waste the effort you made earlier. There are so many hearty breakfast ideas that you can choose from like broccoli crust breakfast pizza, super seed energy bars, breakfast quesadillas, cinnamon chia pudding, egg muffins, and vanilla peach overnight oats.

Your drinks should likewise be healthy and you can make your usual coffee exciting by making it into banana milk coffee, peppermint mocha latte, pumpkin spice latte, iced french vanilla swirl, or salted caramel cold brew coffee. If you are not the type who would eat for breakfast, you can try shaking up one scoop of Shakeology mixed with non-dairy milk or water and you already would have satisfied your nutrition requirements for that particular meal.

4. Set up a vision board

A vision board will help set up the stage for the whole performance of your long-playing weight loss flick. It is going to be composed of vivid illustrations of everything that is related to your objectives. Much like a bulletin board, it will have visual representations of how you plan to achieve them with inspirational images of your end goals. Imagine Pinterest, only real-life, personalized, and tangible. In there, you can post self-image positivity quotes, easy-healthy recipes, exercise how-tos, pictures of parks to run, or trails to hike. It’s practically anything that will motivate you and keep you going.

Of course you can put up photos of your desired look or sexy body to remind you why you are going healthy and forgoing all your favorite stuff. What you want in the end is a better, healthier, happier version of you. You just need to develop more desirable habits each day until you get to that beautiful future you are building for your self. Set up your vision board where you can constantly see it until it becomes an essential part of you.

5. Listen to your body

The most effective weight loss is one which is highly personalized and customized to your particular bodily attributes. So if you want to stick to your resolution for the rest of the year, you have to listen to what your body is telling you as a reaction to what you are doing. Certainly, you have to go for those which will elicit positive results as this implies that it is doing your body the good that you are aiming for. When this happens, it will be easy for you to level up until you are able to reach your goals. On the other hand, watch out for food or types of exercises to which your body feels negatively about. For instance, ice cream can make you feel bloated or too much chocolates cause you diarrhea. This further implies that what may work for one person may not work for you. So focus on what your own body will tell you more than what you see happening in other people. Trust your body. Follow its lead like its your ultimate fitness coach.

6. Make exercise your best friend

Exercise should be something that you cannot live without because there is no effective and healthy weight loss without regular exercise. Krista Haynes, a Beachbody nutrition manager, espouses that when you exercise or make other equally healthy lifestyle choices, you become more conscious about self-care and tend to carry it over to the way you eat as well as other areas in your life. The more you work out, the more empowered you will feel about implementing a general health strategy or game plan and stay consistent all throughout. You will notice that after working out in the gym, you will tend not to eat too much because you don’t want your exercise efforts wasted.

And so, exercising and eating right goes hand in hand whereby the former revs up your metabolism and increase your lean muscle mass and the latter helps you eat according to appropriate portions in order to lose weight. The thing about this combination is that you will look fit – not just thin, and your body will achieve a level of healthiness that will render your whole system as fully functioning. As you increase your physical activities daily with something as simple as cleaning the house or riding a bike, you will also achieve a positive mental outlook, improved sleep, productivity, and ultimately, a higher self-esteem.

7. Surround yourself with love

There will be times when, on your own, you will feel like giving up and go back to your old habits. To make sure that you stick to your new year’s resolution, back yourself up with a support group of family, friends, and fellow fitness enthusiasts to help you maintain your resolve. A family member or a friend can be a health buddy who can go with you to the gym or simply be your go-to person when you feel down. At home, your family has to support your nutrition goals so it can be made easier for you.

Social media can also be a type of support group where you can start a forum in which real people share about their successes and struggles and how to overcome them. Posting photos that will inspire you to get to that six-pack abs or tight butt is likewise recommended. The usual before and after images of you will not only earn you praises but will make you accountable for losing more and then maintaining your ideal weight. Check out my Facebook group and find solace in the fact that you are not alone and that whatever you are going through, other people are experiencing them as well. You just have to learn how to cope with them like the others have.

Enrolling yourself in a fitness class full of individuals who are as determined as you are in getting in shape is a big help. It will make you feel less alone in your struggle and instead motivate you to continue no matter what. A workout trainer or fitness coach online can be a strong ally.

8. Make it digital

These days, a healthy lifestyle is also a digital lifestyle with almost everything that we do, we do with our electronic and mobile devices. So your weight loss goals can stay top of mind the whole year through, you can install a fitness app and let it guide you through the whole process, every minute of every day. For instance, Beachbody has a 21 Day Fix system that will help you plan and properly portion your meals using an app that allows you to mark off the portion containers that you have already consumed and which one you still need to use.

MyFitnessPal is likewise a good option if you are not following a specific diet program as it gives you access to recipes and helps you ensure that your macros are in place. If you are needing more motivation though, you can use the BODi app (Beachbody On Demand) to get in touch with coaches or like-minded individuals who share the same weight loss goals that you have.

9. Make eating healthy fun

Change is not always easy but you can make it fun. You can eating healthy easier on you by incorporating fun into your activities. Try scheduling cooking dates with family or friends and enjoy the food with the camaraderie. In this way, it doesn’t seem like a chore and you will be able to have a positive association with healthy food that will help you keep doing it until it becomes a lifestyle. It can be exciting to go to the grocery, chop veggies, or try new recipes while catching up with friends.

The American University in Washington did a new study and found that social media can be particularly helpful. When you post about nutritious and delicious-looking recipes you have prepared yourself or about setbacks you encounter, it builds your confidence about being a healthy individual who is more than capable of achieving your fitness goals.

10. Keep track of your progress

Monitoring your own progress will be your source of direct feedback and motivation. When you see that you are starting to lose weight, it will motivate you to keep going and aim for more pounds to lose. You have to have a visual representation in numbers or something as tangible as clothes beginning to loosen up so you will be able to feel that indeed you have shed some pounds off successfully. Recording your progress in a journal is also a good idea as you jot down what you have eaten, what you craved for, recipes you liked, exercises you made, as well as your other physical activities. This will help you become aware about what you need to improve on and what you are doing right that you should keep doing. Likewise, you will be able to see if there are nutritional gaps you need to fill.

Don’t forget to reward yourself for the little successes that you make. Just don’t make unhealthy eating or cheat days as a regular reward. Should you have motivation lags, check which ones work for you and which ones are not helpful. Pick yourself up from a particularly challenging day and start again with better strategies. You got to have more successes than frustrations to keep you going until you make your goals a reality, so make it a point to make every experience a favorable one for you.

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