Make Small Changes for Big Rewards

It’s a new year, a fresh start, and a chance to drop those bad habits and acquire good ones. While getting fit, losing weight or being healthy likely topped your list of New Year’s resolutions, you may already feel like you’ve fallen off the wagon. Instead of beating yourself up, do yourself a favor by resetting your goals with more realistic plans.

A study published in the Annuals of Behavioural Medicine found that participants who made one small, potentially permanent change in their food choices or physical activity each week lost as much as those who followed traditional calorie-restriction and physical-activity guidelines. So try these simple strategies from the experts at Life Fitness to keep yourself on track.

Keep track of your progress. Try keeping a simple journal of your day’s activities including sleeping, eating, exercise and entertainment to discover the hiccups and habits holding you back from your aspirations.

Find more ways to move. Sure, a 30-minute cardio workout at the gym is ideal, but committing to peppering your day with more movement will help put you in a mindset for exercise. Opt for the stairs, add an extra walk to your dog’s schedule or hit pedestrian-friendly shopping areas.

Fatigue your muscles. Rather than waltzing through the gym without breaking a sweat, add in techniques that fatigue your body. Life Fitness suggests lifting enough weight that reps 8 – 10 are barely doable or adding a sprint to the end of your jog or a cycling workout to leave you breathless.