The Art of Sticking to Your New Year Health and Wellness Resolutions

This blog post accompanies the Evolve Wellness Experience Podcast Episode #7.

We’ve reached that time of year when we’re all getting back to work and back to working on our New Year’s resolutions. I’ll admit I ate a little more than I should over the holiday break, and I know many of us feel the same. So I asked my personal trainer Tyler Sears to join me on the latest podcast. Here are some highlights from our conversation! -Dr. Bill Jensen

I met Tyler doing Crossfit. He got into martial arts as a kid, became a black belt, won several medals in the junior Olympics, and even taught martial arts classes, before going to college and studying kinesiology. Now a personal trainer, Tyler encourages everyone to challenge and compete with themselves.

“One thing I like to remember is the acronym KISS—keep it simple, stupid,” says Tyler. “When New Year’s comes around, we have high levels of motivation and lofty goals for our fitness progress. Often people are already planning to fail if they set unreachable goals.” Instead, Tyler suggests you make your goals reachable by doing the following:

Making fitness and weight loss goals tangible

“One, make it tangible—write down your goals. Two—break it down into smaller increments. This is where I want to be in 6 weeks, 8 weeks, etc., instead of saying, ‘This year I want to lose 100 pounds.’ Then you can break that down into the things you need to do to meet those goals. How are you going to find an expert on nutrition? Are you going to find a gym or sign up for classes to ensure you exercise regularly? Look at those small steps.”

Tyler adds that you can start with those. For example, maybe January 1 you get off the couch and walk to the mailbox. Maybe January 2 you go past the mailbox and walk to your neighbor’s house. January 3, you go all the way to the stop sign.

“Give yourself credit for all of those small things that lead up to the big goal,” says Tyler. “Those are things that you can do every day, and not start drowning in resolutions that seem unreachable.”

What If You Need More Help?

If you’re totally lost, Tyler recommends you seek out a resource to help. “Think about who can help with your goals. Maybe find a coach, a nutritionist. Maybe talk with a chiropractor if pain or feeling out of whack is making it hard to exercise or causing you to lack motivation.”

Dr. Bill On His Best Secret for Goal Accomplishment: Write Them Down

One thing that I do every day is write down my goals morning and night. In the morning, write down what you want to accomplish that day, and at night what you want to do tomorrow. This helps you focus on the steps you need to take today.

I think Tyler’s method is helpful because I believe there are never unrealistic goals – just unrealistic time frames. Often we get frustrated if we don’t lose a large amount of weight or gain a lot of muscle overnight. So by focusing on small, daily goals, we can stay on track for the bigger goals.

The other thing that really works is his suggestion to find a person who can help you—not just because they can advise you on nutrition or exercise, but also because they can be an accountability partner. For years, I’ve worked with a business coach on my business goals. And people sometimes say to me, “Why do you still have a coach when you’re successful?”

And what I say to them is, “Because my coach holds me accountable.” This is true for any goal—business, personal, fitness. If you start to slack off, you start to lose those benefits. Why do I like working out with Tyler? Because he doesn’t let me slack off. He reminds me to keep doing those reps and he keeps me working toward my goals. I sometimes fill this role for patients who need a coach for health or fitness, and I’m happy that I can help with that accountability.

“Having a coach really helps you to harness your energy,” says Tyler. “You may be motivated, but how are you using that energy? What is your intention? Then you can put consistent energy into meeting that goal. Your coach can say, ‘We’re five months into our ten month goal. Let’s work on this step next.'”

Finding Motivation: Ask Yourself Why?

If you’re struggling with motivation or staying on track, I always recommend you ask yourself, why do you want to meet this goal? Why do you want to lose weight? Why do you want to get in shape? That helps you remember your intention.

Next you should ask yourself where is that fitting into your whole life? Are there areas that aren’t as healthy, like long work hours or lack of family time? Are there issues that may get in the way, like your family eating junk food when you’re trying to eat healthy? What if your spouse smokes and you’re trying to quit? In some instances, you may need a total life change so you don’t sabotage yourself.

How To Celebrate the Small Wins

“A lot of times I remind my clients that I’m a coach who expects a certain level of motivation,” says Tyler. “I’m not a dentist, I’m not pulling your teeth to get you to exercise. You have to want to come to the gym and work out. I’m going to make sure you execute our plan properly and help you stay safe. But sometimes people fall short on the little details, and they lose that motivation. Sometimes you just need to remind yourself that you may not be where you want to be yet, but you are doing something about it. Pat yourself on the back for getting off that couch, walking to that mailbox, going to that gym session. Even calling a coach or trainer is something worth celebrating. Don’t get so caught up in the big picture that you don’t appreciate yourself for those small wins. I see at New Year’s that everyone comes out sprinting, when they should be training for a marathon.”

If you’re concerned about improving your fitness, making sure your spine is healthy and addressing any discomfort that gets in the way of exercising is a great place to start. We’re always happy to help here at Premier Wellness Centers. New patients can book your first appointment here, or, check out our promos page for this month’s specials to help you get in the door!

Stay safe out there, everyone, and don’t forget – we are always offering valuable introduction packages and specials at one of our two locations in Port St. Lucie. Whether you are seeking chiropractic care for an injury or ongoing wellness, post-op physical therapy, relaxing massages, or innovative mind-body wellness services and products, you can get started with us for low introductory specials and rates. Click here to learn more!