For most of the New Years resolutions I made in the past they were lifestyle changing commitments and hard to keep at. Its time to be realistic about your New Year resolutions and if you are not going to do them, don’t make them. It just leaves a disappointing start to the year for you and you want the best start for yourself.
It was only till last year, that I made only one New Year resolution. It was to never say something that I was never going to fulfill. This resolution motivated me to do the things that I have been saying for the last three years and it honestly felt a huge accomplishment and it left me with a guilt-free conscious. Basically, I needed to have a plan of attack so I didn’t set myself up for failure.
I gave up smoking March this year but before that had two years worth of failure. I could always give up for a few weeks.
GIVE UP SMOKING
- Don’t give up unless you are completely ready.
- What I had to do was find out my triggers and know how to deal with them when it came around.
- For two weeks I used Champix. The course of the medication was a month’s worth. I smoked for the first 7-8 days and then stopped smoking and continued the medication for another week. I did not finish the course because of side-effects but by then my cravings had significantly lessened and I was able to use will power to continue to not smoke.
- Replace your habit with a healthy habit…a distraction. I trained with my friend or went for 5km walks with the dog. I have also taken up knitting in the past to cope with distracting my hands.
Commit yourself to fitness by doing a marathon and raise money for charity
I had a friend talk me into signing up for a 14km walk from Sutherland to Surf. Our donations would be given to The Australian Cancer Research Foundation. We trained 1 day a week together and three times on our own. It’s funny when you have so much riding on training that you don’t wanna let others down as well as yourself. Plus, we made a facebook page so others (friends and family) could also follow our progress and encourage us. The bigger your support network, the better.
Download:
- My Fitness Pal: The food diary is where you can enter your meals and it will calorie count that keeps you on track, nutrition has calorie breakdown and progress shows your weight loss.
- Footsteps: is a pedometer app that helps you record your steps, time and distance you have walked.
Training is only half the work, your diet has to be modified as well. I also used the body trim diet because it is effective for me in the past. It focuses more on portion control, protein, vitamins and minerals and one free-day of eating per week.
Organise your shopping list
I used this to organise my shopping list. I print and take it with me.
Click on: http://www.kidspot.com.au/shoppinglist/ShoppingList.asp
It deters you from picking up extras. Remember there will always be ‘specials‘ on junk food. Avoid the aisle and just know that if you do have a ‘free-day’ once a week, then that’s the time to have it. Once you start losing weight, you’ll definitely rethink eating something that will set you back from your goal.
Cut down on the carbs
I tried eating carbs in the morning so I could work it off in the day. You need to know what foods work with your body and which foods don’t. I knew for a fact pasta and bread bloat me and make me put on weight very easily.In the evening I replaced rice and pasta with other alternatives. Quinoa, bed of vegetables like cauliflower (you can make cauliflower rice) mushrooms (low in carbs), string beans etc.
Cut down on sugar, salt and fat
I cut out buying soft drink and having sugar in my coffee three years and it honestly took off 4kgs off my weight. Small changes do work over a long period of time. A great replacement for soft drink is sparkling water. You still get the “fizz” but it’s a healthy drink.If you are going to have that slice of cake or that bag of chips, just make sure it’s served in a small plate or bowl, giving you the illusion it’s a big portion. It’s really hard at times to dodge a craving.Heed the warning!!! – Just remember that every time you have sugar you are spiking your bloodstream. Sugar is a drug. A silent drug. I know it sounds dramatic but the more you have it, the more you want it.
Healthy snacks:
-Nuts
-Celery
-Carrot sticks.
SMALL TIPS
- Small portions of food and eat regularly. Being hungry is not an option.
- Drink one water before and after a meal.
- Don’t prepare a meal while hungry, if you’re one of those people who snack whilst chopping. I do this a lot.
- Don’t rush to lose weight. Think of the diet as a lifestyle change and something that is easy to stick to.
ORGANIZE YOUR FINANCES
I found this website the most helpful budget planner. You need to find out where you stand and how much you can save. It gives you an option to print out 7 pages of your current budget and the pie graphs are great.
Click on: https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/tools-and-resources/calculators-and-tools/budget-planner
WISDOM
This comes with learning life lessons. Remember, try and always think of the positive that comes from a situation. Whether its something that you don’t want to have repeated, or something that you can advise someone else on having gone through it yourself. I know I am constantly learning new things about myself everyday and talking with friends about my experiences does help at times because it gives me a different perspective and time to reflect on things. Some things are definitely better with hindsight.
- Value yourself: You have to love and respect yourself first and foremost. Don’t let anyone dictate your happiness or let anyone take advantage or compromise you as a person.
- Recognise recurring patterns of destructive behaviour: What emotions are you dealing with? How could you have handled it better? What triggers those things? Then try and remove the triggers.
- Spend time with your loved ones whilst they are around: Stop making excuses and make the effort to meet and be with the ones you care about.
- And remember you are where you are because of your decisions: What you have right now is what you think you deserve, so don’t settle if you think you deserve better.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year 🙂
What Dee says... 