How To Stay Motivated To Meet Your New Year Fitness Goals

Staying fit or losing weight is not an easy task. Just like everyone, you probably have other things you need to do or would rather be doing, but being healthy really is possible for anyone who tries. This week we will discuss how to stay motivated to meet your New Year fitness goals.

1. Create More Than One Goal

Think of what your one main goal is; let's just say it is to lose 20 pounds. Give yourself a realistic time line and then break that big goal down into smaller goals. 20 pounds in six months is more than doable. So in three months, you will need to lose 10 pounds, meaning you only need to lose less than four pounds in a month. By only losing less than a pound a week, you can lose 20 pounds in six months.

2. Compete With Friends or Strangers

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Find out if you have other friends or family members that are trying to lose weight and team up with them to stay motivated to meet your New Year fitness goals. You do not even have to be in the same state. By tracking progress online or through social media sites, you can keep each other in check. If you do not know anyone personally, ask at fitness centers or online forums for anyone else that needs to lose the same amount of weight or wants to maintain their current form.

3. Keep a Blog or Journal

It is a good idea to keep a journal during your weight loss journey. Sometimes you may have ups and downs that you need to express, but might not feel comfortable expressing them to someone else or you may not have someone else to express them too. If you would like to share your experiences with others, an online blog is also a good option. Just be prepared that for every good comment you receive, you must also be prepared to receive negative comments.

4. Know That It's OK to Fail Sometimes

You never know when you will have an unexpected lunch or party at work, or you might just want to eat pizza and watch movies with your kids. It is OK to enjoy food and your life. If you do not lose the weight you want one week, or gain some of it back, it is OK, you have the next week to make up for it. You need to be happy during your fitness plan or it will not be worth the work.

4 Worthwhile Diet Resolutions to Consider for the New Year

The new year is just around the corner, and you may be considering your New Year's resolutions for 2015. Starting a new year has always been the pivotal time to starting resolutions. It is a time when you may review the past year with some happiness, and maybe some regrets, and look forward to starting a new year with a clean slate.

New Year's resolutions are very popular, especially when it comes to losing weight. Starting a diet as part of a New Year resolution is the number one choice of many people. You may have had this same resolution year after year, but how can you make it stick this year?

Write It Down

The first step to any diet resolution to consider for the new year is to think of what your diet goals are and write them down. If you don’t write down your goals, they can easily be forgotten within a month’s time. Writing down your diet goals makes them a reality for you and something that you can refer to periodically.

Studies have proven that writing down goals is the best way to achieve success. Maybe this has been your problem in the past. Maybe you mentally though that you would start a diet on the first of the year, but then that diet thoughts soon faded as time went on.

Now that you're prepared for success, here are 4 worthwhile diet resolutions to set for yourself this year:

1)  Commit to Drinking More Water

In this world of busy schedules with long days at work and transporting children to school and activities, grabbing caffeinated drinks for increased energy is very popular, but may be loaded with calories. Avoid this habit. It is okay to have a cup of coffee or tea (with no added sugar, milk, or creamer) with your breakfast, but not in the afternoon or at night.

Commit to drinking eight glasses of water a day, minimum. Water is a great way to cleanse toxins from your body, hydrate your body, and deter false signs of hunger. Many times you may think you are hungry, when in actuality you are just dehydrated and need water. Water is a great addition to any diet plan.

Healthy, whole foods. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2) Replace Processed Foods with Whole, Natural Foods

The easiest way to meet your diet resolution is to just make changes to what you eat. When you replace processed foods, such as pastries, candies, and cookies with unprocessed foods like whole grains, and cleanly raised meats, and lots of fresh vegetables, you automatically decrease calories.

A decrease in calories means a decrease in your weight. Foods that are unprocessed are usually a lot more natural or are made with natural ingredients that are easily digested by your body.

3) Eat More Often

Eat more and lose more weight! You should pre-plan your meals for each day that you are away from home so that you are eating five to six meals per day, about two to three hours apart. This is the only way to keep your metabolism functioning properly, as well as keeping your energy in balance.

When your body is fed continuously it will not recognize that you are changing your diet. All your body knows is that it is receiving food regularly, so it is okay to burn calories. When you start depriving your body of food, it will respond by hoarding calories and slowing its metabolism in preparation for what it perceives as starvation. Many people don't realize this, and when they go on a diet, they cut their food intake so drastically, the body starts actually storing fat rather than burning it - which is why they often find it so hard to lose weight!

4) Decrease Portion Size

A cheeseburger 20 years ago had 333 calories; a modern cheeseburger contains 590 calories. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You can still enjoy eating most of the foods you enjoy and still lose weight by simply decreasing the portion sizes. A great trick is using a smaller plate or container for your meal. By using a smaller serving dish it will look like you are eating the same size portions as before, but you actually are eating less.

Your mind is very powerful, and it will perceive the portion size as being the same. You will not even feel deprived, because the plate will look full to you - plus your body will quickly adjust to eating smaller portions, so you will still feel full. You will even surprise yourself by how satisfied you are when you eat this way. Losing weight may even seem effortless!

By following these 4 tips, you can lose weight this year - and keep it off - all while enjoying your food, your life, and your newly fit body. Be sure to check this blog regularly for exercise tips, fast, fun workouts, and new fun ways to exercise!

10 Simple New Year's Fitness Resolutions

When you start to notice that you need to lose a few extra pounds, want to get back in shape or just maintain your current level of fitness, you need to get yourself motivated. Since it's that time of year, here are 10 simple New Year's fitness resolutions to get you going.

1. Start a Fitness Plan: Talk to your doctor or a qualified personal trainer about what your fitness goals are. Decide if you want to join a gym or exercise on your own. Most gyms offer a free trial period in their facilities.

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2. Make a Friend: Find someone to keep you motivated. You can find a partner to exercise with or just an online buddy to help you track your goals. Websites such as Spark and Livestrong can even help pair you up in groups with others.

3. Walk and Bike More: Park as far as you can from work, school or even the grocery store. Take the stairs whenever possible and for longer distances use a bike.

4. Drink More and Less: Try to drink more water, as much as you can possibly stand. The more water you drink the less hungry you will be. Try to cut out all alcohol and soda and cut down to just one juice a day.

5. Count Your Steps: Get a pedometer – note that even some smartphones have step counters. You can also get them at Walmart for under $10.

6. Eat In: Prepare your meals at home with fresh ingredients. You'll cut out preservatives and hidden calories. (See our Cooking From Scratch blog for weekly recipes, and cooking tips and articles.)

(Photo credit: tedeytan)

7. Count Calories - But Not Too Much: Keep a food journal of what you eat and an exercise journal of the activities you do each day and for how long you did them - but don't obsess about this one. Just making sure you are eating good, whole, healthy foods will go a long way towards helping you get (and stay) in shape, without having to obsess over calories.

8. Reward Yourself: Set goals and associate a reward for each of your goals. It could be anything from a piece of your favorite cake to a professional massage. Note: When giving yourself food rewards, keep it in moderation.

9. Take a Day Off: Once every two weeks give yourself a break. Take a day off from exercising and cheat a little bit on your diet. People who have periodic breaks tend to succeed more on their diet and exercise plans by not feeling so restricted.

10. Track Your Results: Take before and after pictures and chart your weight and measurements. Share your successes with others. Celebrate any change even if it's just an inch or a pound or two lost.

And last but not least, be sure to check this blog regularly for new, fun, and interesting workouts weekly!