New Year’s Resolutions: A Set-up or Sabotage?

New Year’s Resolutions: A Set-up or Sabotage?

A new year is a clean slate; an opportunity to start fresh and to turn over a new leaf. But as attractive as this sounds, the fact is that most New Year’s resolutions are most often dropped by the end of January. While it might seem like a good idea to set a new goal for yourself in the coming year, there are some basic reasons behind why New Year’s resolutions don’t work. If you want to create real change in your life, then it’s important to understand why many never follow through with their proclamations.

One of the reasons why New Year’s resolutions don’t work is that they’re often based on things that you think you’re supposed to do, and not necessarily on things that you want to do. You think you should exercise more, you think you should lose weight, you think you should stop smoking, you think you should start keeping a journal. These are all good things, but if you don’t really want to do them, then there’s nothing there to motivate you to keep it up. These types of resolutions can stress you out. It’s important to be authentically passionate about your self vision, in order to achieve it.

Another reason why New Year’s resolutions don’t work is that people often take on too much when writing out their list. They write a novel-length list that basically says, “I want to change the entirety of who I am in one year.” This is a recipe for disaster; no one can keep that many resolutions. And it can also serve as a reminder of all the things you don’t like about yourself, which is more likely to send you running for the ice cream in your freezer than it is to send you running to the gym.

There are many reasons why New Year’s resolutions don’t work, but here’s an effective way to affect genuine change in your life. Pick one area of your life in which you’d like to improve, and focus on making a little progress at a time in that area. By taking things step by step, you’re far more likely to follow through and take things day by day. And who says that you have to wait for the New Year? The rest of your life is starting now; you don’t have to wait a month in order to get your rump in gear.

Tips to Keep Your Body on Track During the Holidays

Tips to Keep Your Body on Track During the Holidays

The holiday season brings happiness, joy and most importantly a lot of eating and shopping. And if you are a person who regularly works out, then this time of year surely disturbs your whole fitness routine. With all the parties, traveling and shopping, these interruptions make it difficult to maintain your work out and diet plan. The only thing that could be done to counter not working out is to burn calories within the time you have. Below, I’ll tell you a few easy ways to burn calories and at the same time enjoy your holiday season.

  • Workout with family:Tis’ the season for family. So try to make best use of it and turn this opportunity into a workout session. Like during vacation, take your kids and partners for a walk in the neighborhood to see all the lights and decorations. It will give you and your family a chance to spend time amusing your aesthetic sense AND you will be burning calories.
  • Workout at home:Finding time to leave home for the gym can seem impossible at this time of year. Take charge of your domain by utilizing your surroundings both inside and outside of the home. Run up and down the stairs, perform household chores that involve walking, or in warmer climates take the lawn mower and trim your lawn. All these activities will keep you involved in the preparation for the holiday and at the same time burn calories.
  • Mall tour:While shopping, don’t just go directly to the outlets you usually buy from. Instead take a detour and window shop the entire mall, before reaching your desired outlet. It will burn calories in the form of a long walk and additionally you might discover an excellent sale.
  • Winter Sports:Participate in winter sports. This is the reason they were invented.  If you don’t know how to ski or ice skate, it could be quite fun learning. It will add to your social life — plus burn calories, strengthen your knees and improve your reflexes.
  • Park further away:Don’t park your car at the closest possible space available in the lot. Instead park it in some far corner, which will give you a chance to take a walk. If you are in a hurry, you can still park it at a distance and walk briskly or jog, instead of meandering towards your objective. The faster you walk the more calories you burn.

All in all, the point is, don’t use the holidays as a lame excuse to skip your workout. Instead, try to utilize the holidays in a way that they both bring you pleasure and satisfy your workout routine.