Jan 04, 2021

Monday Tip: Creating New Year's Habits

Happy Monday everyone! New Year's Resolutions are a time to reflect on the past year and look forward to self-improvement in the new. Unfortunately, most of us are guilty of giving up on resolutions almost as quickly as we make them.

Resolutions fail due to a combination of unrealistic goals and a lack of accountability. We resolve to quit smoking, lose weight, exercise more, but trying to make a change by not doing something ie: NOT smoking, or NOT eating sugar, only makes these habits stronger. These behaviors have been ingrained in our brains and trying to change a habit requires rewiring our brains and creating new neural pathways to form new thinking.

Habits are the way to win. Forming a habit that you can do every single day will ultimately get you to your goal and sometimes beyond. Human beings are evolving creatures and when we want to truly change our behavior, there are ways to succeed.

Start by simply creating a realistic, specific goal. Instead of saying, “I want to lose weight”, think, “I want to lose 15 lbs in x amount of days”.

Have a well thought-out plan, that includes what to do when there are bumps in the road. There will always be rough spots and we need to anticipate these so we avoid quitting at the first obstacle.

Small victories lead to a big picture. Celebrate every small victories, because that’s what they are: victories. If you haven't smoked in a week, that's a huge reason to celebrate, not with a cigarette, of course, but perhaps a massage, something relaxing to recharge you for the next week.

Track your progress and have an accountability buddy. Having someone to share your successes with and vent to when you're struggling helps keep you both on track. Another great way is to make your progress visible (photographic evidence!) so you're constantly being reminded how you've succeeded so far and how much further you have until your next triumph.

Focus on your new way of thinking to help in support of your new habit.

The behaviors we are trying to change will always be there and there will be times where we revert to those old behaviors, but if we don't focus on the slips, our new habits will become more influential and instead of a singular resolution, it will start a path to a lifestyle change.

You might also like

By Ray Cattaneo 07 Feb, 2024
Andrea has been at IPT since July of 2023 and has been the definition of consistency! She always makes adjustments to her nutrition and exercise when needed and pushes herself in workouts every single time. Each month she exceeds her goal of losing body fat mass, and has lost a total of 24lbs of BFM since joining! She's able to chest press 25 lb dumb bells and can do a full pushup without any assistance now. You can really see the difference in how Andrea carries herself and the confidence she has now compared to her first day at IPT. She completely transformed her life for the better!
By Ray Cattaneo 03 Nov, 2023
Rey has been here since early June & has never missed a session! He's on-point with his tracking for nutrition and always does his cardio. He has hit every goal since he started and has lost 49.6 lbs of body fat mass and gained 3.8 lbs of skeletal muscle mass. Down from 48.9% BF to 36.6% BF. The health of his knees has improved drastically and he continues to have an exceptionally positive attitude!
By Ray Cattaneo 02 Aug, 2023
Hi, my name is Dylan and I’ve been at IPT since December of 2022, and my fitness habits have greatly improved since then! Since I started at IPT, I’ve been consistent with all of my workouts at the gym, my workouts outside of the gym, and my nutrition. I’ve lost 13.2 pounds of body fat, and have gotten stronger and faster with every session. My training at IPT has helped me to throw a no-hitter this baseball season as well as decrease my 40 yard sprint time!
More Posts
Share by: