Tips And Tricks To Keep Your New Year’s Weight-Loss Resolution

Losing weight is possibly the most favorite New year’s resolution of people. Almost half the population has this box unchecked at the beginning of the year. A new year means fresh motivation, right? Sadly, almost 45% of people need help to stick to this, and many of them fail to continue the regime post the first week of January.

Fat gain can be due to multiple factors. From stress eating to binge eating and watching your favorite Netflix movie. Lack of exercise due to hectic office work, inactivity due to an unhealthy lifestyle, and gaining weight can be due to many factors. And understanding these factors is the first step to a healthy weight loss journey.

How do you keep New Year’s resolutions for weight loss?

When we think of weight loss, we often think of dieting and exercise. Subjecting ourselves to gruesome diets and starvation not only messes up our metabolism but also leads to subsequent health issues. Additionally, lack of food causes severe fatigue leading us to fall sick more often.

Not having food you love also causes a psychological effect. Weight loss is not a story of one day. It is a journey of consistency, effort, failure, and pushing yourself back up again. Not eating food we love causes us to lose motivation to continue, leading to more stress eating and gaining weight. 

reasons why resolutions to lose weight fail for most people

With all your gym memberships and dietician visits, you might wonder why your resolution needs to be fixed. Here are some reasons why resolutions to lose weight fail for most people:

• No Planning: Like said before, losing weight takes time and effort. It is a process of consistency and routine. Therefore, it is important to set a regimen for weight loss. Whether you are going to the gym or skipping junk food, you need to set yourself on a timeline to achieve the optimum results. Going to the gym, cooking at home, or not eating from your favorite fast food restaurant will only work if you keep at it for more than a couple of weeks. Though it might seem hard at times, and you might slip, trying to get back into the routine will help you in the long term. And ultimately, you will find yourself naturally sticking to your regime.

• No Motivation: Regardless of what your favorite influencer says, many of us don’t even like the “healthy” food we eat during the weight loss process. Not only does it send us into the spiral of low motivation, but it also makes us want to snack on empty calories even more. You might have started your weight loss journey keeping a certain reason and goal in mind. Remember why you started this process whenever you feel like you are not motivated enough. It can be a preparation for your favorite trek, a vacation, or fitting into that gorgeous dress for your birthday. Find the reason that motivates you and remind yourself of it.
  
• No Support: Let’s be honest; working out is better when we have someone on the journey with us. On those unfavorable gym days when you just don’t want to do that extra rep, your companion makes the situation much better. Having a partner who is in the same boat as you helps you stop your empty calorie intake. Even on days, you don’t want to go to the gym, leaving your partner alone is enough motivation to go there.
  
• Unrealistic Goals and Timelines: Haven’t we all searched for “How to lose weight in 10 days” or “How to lose 10 kgs in 2 weeks”? Keeping an unrealistic goal mentally affects you. You might think it’s achievable when it’s not. And failure to achieve that goal leads to motivation loss. Seek help from health experts and medical professionals to lose weight healthily so that the weight gain is not sudden in case you decide to drop it in any unforeseen circumstance. Additionally, they are trained in this field and know how much weight you can lose. Keeping a realistic timeline helps you achieve your goals, motivating you to push harder.
  
• Non-specific Resolution: You cannot start your resolution with “I want to lose weight”. This is possibly the worst way of starting a weight loss journey. Be more specific in your resolution. For example, “I want to lose X-Kilograms in X-Days”. This massively helps in sticking to your goal and tracking it. You can change or modify your diet accordingly and then push yourself harder if you wish to. Keeping a realistic timeline is a healthy way of losing weight. 

Now, more than just dieting and eating habit is required. Neither is exercising. A healthy blend of a balanced diet and proper daily exercise is the secret recipe for healthy weight loss. Just decreasing your calorie intake will help you lose weight, but very slowly.

Add some exercise to it, and you will see wonders in your routine. Maintaining this might be difficult, and what if you cannot do this every day? There is nothing to be scared of since simple nutrition and exercise tips daily can significantly change your lifestyle. 

Nutrition tips that might help your weight loss new year resolution on track:

• Keep a journal or track your calories. Various apps help you maintain your calorie intake so that you can stick within the limit.
• Try not to stress eat. A lot of people stress eating if there is an inconvenience in plans, which leads to massive weight gain. Find a different hobby or an activity to take your mind off food. If you want to eat, then go for healthy alternatives to keep the weight in check. 
• Try to cut down on sugar and food with high sugar content. Now sugar might be an addiction or just your favorite food component. But sugar leads to immense weight gain. Cakes, cookies, doughnuts, etc., have empty calories. Try going for fruits instead, which have natural sugar and do not lead to excessive weight gain. 

• Try limiting your alcohol, soda, and caffeine intake. Go for fruit juices or iced water instead.
• Break your meals into multiple portions. This is a metabolically intelligent way of keeping your stomach full yet not inclining on snacking. If you eat 3 meals a day, break it into 5 or 6 meals. 
• Go for carbohydrate food that has a low glycemic index. For example, avoid potatoes and eat asparagus. 
• Keep a high-fiber diet, as it significantly helps in losing weight. Broccoli, peas, lentils, beans, etc., are some high-fiber foods you can quickly get in the market. 
• Don’t deprive yourself of food you like to eat and are your favorite. Once a week, keep a cheat or a treat day, and in controlled portions, consume the food you like to eat. This acts as an excellent motivation to begin a new week. 

Exercise Tips to help your weight loss

Eating healthy is a part and beginning of the process, but like everything else, you need solid support to maintain optimum weight loss. Here are some smart tips to maintain an exercise regime:

• Start slow with low-impact exercise, for example, walking or light jogging. If you go for cardio and crunches on Day 1, the motivation is sure to falter. 
• Choose activities you like to do. For example, if you are outdoorsy, try going for walks, jogs, or hikes. If you are an indoor person, look for yoga, pilates, or home gym exercises. 
• Try finding a partner, who will not only keep you motivated but also aid in achieving your goals.
• If you have a busy work schedule, break your workouts into a limited timeline throughout the day to keep your calorie-burn cycle running. 
• Try strength exercises twice a week. This improves your core strength and helps you lose weight much faster. 
• Keep a journal. Tracking your exercise activity motivates you to do better and keeps you on track with your exercises. 

Fitness Apps and Devices

The process is about being smart, incorporating activities and food to fit your lifestyle, and maintaining your routine. With technology advances, many apps and fitness devices help keep track of your activities. Fit bands help you understand how many calories you burn via various activities like swimming, jogging, walking, etc.

If you love to take walks, you can set a goal of 10,000 steps; your fit band will help you track that. Similarly, calorie-tracking apps help you track how many calories you are eating in a day, and if your meal has some extra calories left, you might get to eat that slice of cake before your cheat day. You cannot stick to the process if you don’t enjoy it. 

Conclusion

The resolution to lose weight is a wonderful new year’s motivation. It mentally prepares you for an optimistic and productive year. Sticking to it might not be as difficult. The trick is to get back into the routine in case you need help to maintain it. As long as you keep up with it and do the small bits in maintaining the nutrition and exercise pointers, you are good to go for your weight loss journey.