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The Do’s And Don’ts Of New Year’s Resolutions
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6. Do – Plan a Wedding on New Years
If you do think you have found the perfect partner, then spend the next year planning your wedding. There is no problem with getting married on or around New Years, just don’t do it after you a few glasses of champagne with someone you have known for a few hours.
7. Don’t – Decide to lose 25 Pounds (or more) in the Coming Year
These types of resolutions usually fail. Simply saying that you are going to lose X number of pounds is not enough to actually accomplish it. Sure, you might start off for a week, maybe even two, cutting back on calories, but if you are still drinking sodas, eating junk foods or processed foods, you won’t stick with it.
8. Do – Start With the 80/20 Rule
This is generally much easier for most people to follow. Eat healthy 80 percent of the time and the other 20 percent will keep you from feeling deprived. For most people this means eating a mostly plant based diet, with plenty of raw or lightly steamed veggies, and very little sugar, no junk foods, and no processed foods Monday through Friday.
ON the weekends, feel free to eat more normally. Don’t pig out, but if you want a piece of pizza on Saturday night, go ahead. Later, you will find that you prefer how you feel Monday through Friday, and come the weekend, chances are excellent that you will switch to healthy eating full time. This will help you lose weight without even trying.
9. Don’t – Be Overly Focused and Forget to Enjoy Life
Some people have terrific concentration powers and can apply a great deal of energy into accomplishing their resolutions, but they are spending so much time and effort into being “perfect” (“I’ve got to hit the gym after work, then head to the organic store for food for tomorrow, cook a healthy meal, meditate for 20 minutes, detox in the bath, then write in my food journal before bed.”) that they don’t make time for fun.
Don’t make so many resolutions or focus on them so diligently that there is no time to relax, socialize, and have fun.
10. Do – Take Baby Steps
OK, so you wanted to work out this year and really get in shape but you found out that, your first week at the gym, you couldn’t jog for more than 5 minutes without sounding like you were having an asthma attack, you could only bench press 40 pounds, and do about 5 crunches before you just collapsed with exhaustion. Read more how to get fit even if you haven’t exercised in years.
Don’t get discouraged! When you haven’t exercised, or practiced healthy eating, or anything else you have in mind, for a while, it takes time to get back into the swing of things. Don’t be embarrassed and don’t do that negative self-talk (“I’m such a fat failure, I’m only 30 and I’m so out of shape, I’m absolutely disgusting”) Baby steps will get you where you want to be. OK, if you hope to run a marathon in the late spring, start by walking as fast as you can for 30 minutes each day for one week. Next week, make it 40 minutes.
When you can walk for about an hour, try adding 1 minute of running every 10 minutes of your walking time. So walk for 10 minutes, then run for 1 minute, walk for 10 minutes, and then run for 1 minute. Two weeks later, change that for 2 minutes of walking, then 3 minutes. You will be surprised at how quickly your body becomes accustomed to things when you take the baby steps that are necessary to reach your goal.
Always remember that if you backslide, if you go back into bad eating habits or you skip your exercise program twice in a week, that doesn’t mean you should give up. Everyone stumbles, and lifelong habits take time. Be kind and gentle with yourself. Go back to your planned routine as soon as possible and keep going! You can do almost anything when you want it enough.
