Want to lose weight? Stop making resolutions you can' t keep
So how many resolutions did you make this year? Five, ten, twelve (one for every month of the year...)? Whatever the number, by now I am sure half of your "new" resolutions have already been discarded and rest are pretty close to being cast aside too... And all this even before we have reached the tail end of the first month of the year.
So basically you are on the way to becoming a "January cliche", and feeling like an absolute failure, yet again! It's not that you are weak-willed or lazy; in fact you are not alone. If we go by stats, there's more or less consensus that worldwide only one-third of January resolutions last till the end of the month and the rest too drop off soon after.
And somehow, the "get healthy" and "eat right" resolutions bite the dust quicker. Maybe because "unhealthy" habits are more hardwired...
Early on in January we make big decisions and outlandish promises - drastic diets, severe deprivations, maniac exercise schedules - without doing a "is-it-even-possible-audit".
Agreed half of these promises are made in the December festivities-induced hangover haze, and the other half because of the image the mirror shows up - of a bloated you (and mirrors don't lie), but what I don't understand is why so many of us go down this now-proven-to-fail path every year!
According to research published last year in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, approximately 50 per cent of the population makes resolutions each New Year, and among the top resolutions are losing weight, exercising and stopping smoking.
Somehow January has by default become the "let's-put-everything-that's-wrong-with-us-right" month. It's actually a no-brainer why this happens. Prompted, goaded by the "New Year, New You" bold headlines, and proclamations of all those around us planning to turn over a new (healthy) leaf overnight... we too get optimistic.
But the fact is that for our radical resolutions to succeed we definitely need more than mere optimism.
Don't just arbitrarily make resolutions because everyone is making them, as an abandoned resolution is far worse than not making one; failing at resolutions has implications. It eats up your self-esteem, you feel it was your fault, and begin to distrust yourselves; it can be emotionally catastrophic. Don't do this to yourself. But if you must, then follow this checklist:
Don't make a resolution if...
1. It isn't specific (a resolution like "I will shake off my pot belly this year" has no meaning... but "I will drink beer only once a week" still has a chance to succeed).
2. It doesn't make you happy (health and happiness go hand in hand, and cannot exist mutually exclusive of each other. Period).
3. It is against the grain of what you essentially are (because you will sooner than later revert to what you are... you have always eaten eggs, so for how long can you stay without them, and actually why should you?).
4. It's a borrowed goal (your friend thinks yoga is the best way to tone up... so you sign up too, even though you are a group exercise person. Doomed to fail!).
5. You don't have a system in place (You resolve to hire a personal trainer this year... and you are already in debt).
6. The timing is wrong (you have to shift towns and job, someone in your family is sick, and you sign up for an expensive gym membership... shouldn't you tie the loose ends first?).
7. It is too long-term ("I won't eat non-vegetarian food ever again". How about "let me stop eating it for three days a week"). Keep it short and attainable.
8. You think a resolution will completely reinvent you (change your sad life drastically). Nothing has the power, or that far-reaching effect. It can change things, but only so much.
9. You have a big list to tick. Never try to bring about too many changes at the same time (who says January is the deadline for deciding whatever good you want to do with your body? Spread them out).