The ‘New Year, New You’ mindset and making it stick.🏋️‍♀️🏋️‍♂️
By: Whittfit Training
Tags: Weight Loss, Mindset, Fitness, New Years Resolutions, Lifestyle

Hands up, whose made a New Years resolution? I have. Mine is to train to compete in Triathlons. Last October I took part in my first triathlon and I loved every second of it. I have lots of experience of road cycling and road running but my swimming let me down. So once I finished the Triathlon, I spoke with my friend who took part and said I would spend 2020 training towards more triathlons. The emphasis being on improving my swimming technique.

So that’s my goal in a nutshell, but whats your goal for this year? Have you got the plan/mindset in place to go and achieve this goal? Let’s discuss just a couple of things which I find help keep me focused and overcome any obstacles that come my way.

Firstly is this goal ACHIEVABLE? — So for example lets say I want to lose 2 stone ready for my winter sun holiday I’ve got booked at the end of February. I’ve started my new workout routine on the 2nd of January and I have about 8 weeks until that holiday✈😎 . So I’ve got to lose 1 stone every 4 weeks or 3.5 lbs a week or 0.5lb a day. So firstly, ask yourself ‘Why 2 stone’? Why not 1 stone? Whichever way you break it down, trying to lose this much weight, in a short space of time, just isn't going to happen (unless you go on some crazy crash diet which lets face it, wont be sustainable and you’ll probably end up worst off this way). Another way of looking at this goal could be to say ‘I want to lose a stone before my holiday and then if I lose anything extra then great’. So lets say your holiday arrives and you’ve lost 1 stone. What a great achievement!! Lets celebrate this and tell yourself that although you’re not quite at your 2 stone goal, you’re a lot closer than you were on the 2nd of January. If 2 stone was your magic number, and you still feel disappointed that you aren’t there yet, then moving forward take note of the fact that perhaps extra planning was required and waiting to start this 2 stone weight loss journey in the New Year, was perhaps just a touch too late. So to sum up — don’t lose focus. You’re halfway to your goal. Plan your next 2–3 months fitness routine out, identify potential obstacles and go hit your target. What’s your PLAN?- So if we’re looking at a weight loss goal, have you structured your fitness and nutrition🥗 plan to help hit your target? We’ve looked at your goal being achievable so let’s now put our weight loss plan in place. Firstly, you need to be in a calorie deficit to see the change on the scales. ‘How can I be in a calorie deficit’ I hear you ask? You need to expend more energy (calories) than you consume. Firstly identify the calories you need to maintain your weight (say 2500). So if you consume 2500 calories a day, you aren’t going to lose any weight (pretty straight forward). I mean you could consume 2500 a day, but then you need to be adding in exercise to help burn off some of these calories. So adding in 3 exercise sessions each week, where you burned off say 500 calories each one, gives you a deficit of 1500 calories in one week. So, the second point to consider is adding in some exercise where you can to help. Look ahead at your weeks, months and decide when you’re going to train. Are you better in the mornings so a 6am session before work is the time for you? But hold on, you’ve got the train to catch to work at 7 so you will need to consider starting your workout at half 5 (who needs sleep anyway😴 ). If 5:30 isn’t going to be an option, because you want that extra half an hour sleep, then whats option 2, 3 or even 4. Don’t just make it up day by day. Have your workout routines setup in your diary around work, social, family time etc and make it a priority. But lets be realistic here, life has a habit of making things crop up last minute and we might only achieve 2 workouts on week 2 of your plan and you’d hoped for 3. Again, well done for achieving 2 workouts that week and keeping nutrition under control. Ask yourself ‘would I have done 2 workouts and had a good week of nutrition before I started this new routine’? If the answer is ‘no’ then you’ve made instant progress, even though you missed a workout (that actually wasn’t your fault). So no harm done, onto week 3 and lets hit those 3 workouts and keep the good nutritional habits ticking along nicely. So to sum up point 2 -get your workouts setup in 4 week phases and nutrition plan set up for 1 week at a time . Expect things to come up which cant be avoided, but get back onto the right path the next day and keep going.

These 2 points should give you a clear focus on what you need to do to get off and running with your New Years resolutions. Setting new habits can be fun but also challenging. But if you can stick to something new for 30 days, you’ll soon make that new habit a part of every day life. Its not just Health and Fitness that these 2 points can be applied to. You can set yourself PLANS and ACHIEVABLE goals for lots of different things in life. Keep a strong mindset this year and go out and be the best you can each and everyday 💪👍