The majority of people that I have talked to recently have mentioned that they would like to lose some weight (or more accurately lose some fat*) as their New Year resolution.

We all seem to be very good at making resolutions but not so many of us are very good at following through with our intensions. If we are one of the lucky people that actually motivate ourselves enough to get started with our new resolutions we may find that maintaining it becomes quite difficult after our initial motivation dwindles.

Most people will go through this stage but what we have to remember is that motivation only lasts for so long. To continue over a longer period of time we must we must employ other means. The saying “motivation gets you started, habit keeps you going” indicates clearly what we must do – form healthy habits.

Many people look back on their lives and see a repeating pattern of healthy periods followed by unhealthy periods. This tends to be seen with people who are successful at motivating themselves for a while but are not able to habituate their healthy ways.

So how do make healthy living a habit and not let ourselves slip back to our old (unhealthy) ways when our motivation dips?

Here are 3 simple steps we can take to increase the chances of our success.

1.     Plan                                   2.     Plan                                         3.     Plan

 Plan your Diet

Know what you are going to eat ahead of time. Have a meal plan for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you know what you’re going to eat you’re far less likely to eat inappropriate foods. If like me you find it difficult to stick to a healthy eating regime you will probably need to employ various strategies to ensure you don’t stray too far from the path of healthy eating. One thing you can do is to prepare your lunches for work the day before. This may take a few minutes and a little effort but you will reap the rewards in the long run. Only include healthy foods in your work lunches. Promise yourself that work will be your healthy eating zone, don’t allow yourself to snack on other peoples office contributions of biscuits or chocolate, only eat what you have prepared and brought in. I find because I always eat healthily at work I don’t feel so guilty if I indulge in richer foods while on holiday on in situations where I have limited choice of foods.

Plan your Activities

If we don’t plan some sort of exercise into our daily routine then the chances are we will never do any. Decide what activity you are going to do then make sure you do it. Try and make things as easy as possible for yourself by getting prepared beforehand i.e. have your gym/sports bag ready to go. 

Plan your Day

Start thinking about your days activities as soon as you wake up, visualise yourself doing them. Plan your eating schedule so you have some food a couple of hours before your planned activities this will ensure you do not use hunger as an excuse not to do them. Drink plenty of fluids throughout the day so you are well hydrated, this will give you the motivation and energy to get the most out of your exercise. 

Hope your resolutions become reality.

* People talk about losing weight all the time but what we really should be looking at is specifically reducing our fat levels which may or may not reduce our weight. Body fat percentage can be tested a variety of ways, skinfold measurements or bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) are the most commonly used methods.