Your New Year’s Resolution Fat Loss goal! It’s that time of year again… And I know you’ve got one thing on your mind – making that yearly promise to yourself to THIS TIME “do it for real”.
The easy part of the new year is making the resolution. The hardest part of the new year is KEEPING the resolution.
So today, I want to kick your year off with some advice that will make your efforts a huge success. So let’s take a look at my 8 New Year’s Resolution Fat Loss Tips! Tips that you can put into place right now, and will have a major positive impact on your efforts both in and out of the gym.
New Year’s Resolution Fat Loss Tip #1: Don’t Just Make a Resolution, Set a Goal
Our first New Year’s Resolution Fat Loss tip drives right to the heart of the most popular chess move for many folks after the 1st day of the year – and that’s setting a New Year’s Resolution.
But, this year, I want to challenge you to take things even further. Rather than focusing on a resolution, I want you to focus on a long term GOAL.
The word resolution has gained a bad wrap over the years, as many embark on one with good intentions, only to fail miserably at keeping their resolutions longer than a month.
The one thing I can say that will definitely help you to come out on top, is shifting your mindset to actual goal setting. It makes things a bit more serious in your mind, and may be the catalyst to sticking to your plan for months on end.
So instead of referring to this as your New Year’s Resolution, I want you to call this your first quarter of the year goal. Now, notice how I’ve tweaked this even further for you…
The thing about New Year’s Resolutions is that they often bite the dust after the first month. With focusing on the first quarter of the year (first 3 months), you have already mentally made a long term commitment. And that’s super important if your goal is long term success.
So to make your desires come to pass, you want to attach to your goal an actual long-term strategy that will keep you motivated and inspired well past January 31st.
New Year’s Resolution Fat Loss Tip #2: Set the Goal then Devise a Plan
Our second New Year’s Resolution Fat Loss tip is all about devising your game plan for success.
I shared on my Facebook and Instagram profiles recently my secret weapon to my own success in business and beyond. That secret weapon…
Journaling.
And I’m not necessarily talking about writing out my deepest thoughts and feelings. What I do with journaling is write out my actionable desires and goals, and then start writing out the game plan I have to have in place to make it all come to pass.
For you, I want you to commit to writing out your goals, and claiming exactly what you want. Writing your goals down makes it all tangible. It puts it right there with you in the real world, and speaks them into existence.
The one thing you want to keep in mind with your game plan is that you want to definitely write it out, but you also want to prepare to abandon it if necessary – or at least leave enough room to be mailable. The only thing you can always guarantee in any game plan is the fact that nothing ever goes as planned. So being able to adjust at a moment’s notice is extremely important to your long term success.
New Year’s Resolution Fat Loss Tip #3: Take the Plan and Put it in Place Immediately
Once you know what you want to do, and how you have to go about doing it, do NOT wait! Put that bad boy in place RIGHT AWAY.
How many times have you said, “I’ll start on Monday”. There seems to be some magical thing about Monday that it’s become like the designated start day for everything in life.
Ok, so let’s do something else this New Year… Break the Monday pattern!
Instead of waiting until Monday to go for your goals, I want you to start immediately. Now here’s the good thing, immediately can mean the very next day, as much as it can mean the same day – Monday or not. So there’s no pressure to make what you want your reality.
As the old saying goes, there’s no time like the present. That includes the time you need to start on your goals.
New Year’s Resolution Fat Loss Tip #4: Take Photos and Schedule Everything – Workouts, Meal Prep, and Rest
Taking starting measurements and pics is a crucial first step towards your goals. Documenting your exact starting point can inspire you in more ways than you might realize in this moment.
I know alot of folks actually dread taking starting photos. However, if you fall into this category, I want you to do this one thing… I want you to have a mental shift and embrace where you are in the present, all while diligently looking towards the future of what you wish to become.
To further ensure your success, actually taking time to schedule the tasks needed to realize your goals is critical. It’s in doing this, and committing to your schedule that new habits are born. These habits that you are establishing are the exact duties that can mean the difference between success or failure in your efforts.
In the midst of getting things done, don’t forget to actually schedule some downtime. It’s easy to get excited about your goals, so much so that you’re willing to work nonstop for it. But here’s the thing, in order for that goal to become your reality, it has to fit within your normal life, and be something you can maintain for weeks, months, and years to come.
So remember that balance is key, and the more you can make your efforts fit your life, the better.
New Year’s Resolution Fat Loss Tip #5: Put the Scale Away – Take Out the Battery
Ah, the scale. A necessary evil in the game of fat loss. What if I told you that the only thing the scale is truly useful for is using it to help determine your starting calories? How would you deal with it knowing that?
Well, I can probably guess that you’d be surprised, but won’t initially take heed to what I’m saying. So what I want to will you to do is put the dang thing away. Take out the battery, and put the scale itself in a location where it is completely out of sight and out of mind.
I’ve seen it time and again as an online coach and personal trainer. Clients doing amazingly well, they are loving their progress, things are falling into place one minute, and then suddenly, the next minute they are depressed after stepping on the scale.
I always say you can’t have it both ways… You can’t be on cloud nine one minute because you see your hard work truly paying off, and then depressed the next because you allow an inanimate object to dictate your happiness.
To keep yourself sane, simply ignore the scale. Make a habit of taking your weight only once a month, or every 2 weeks at the most. And when you do, keep a positive perspective and consider the full picture when it comes to your progress. The scale is only one measure of progress, and the least important one at that.
New Year’s Resolution Fat Loss Tip #6: Clear out the Pantry of Junk Food
Here’s another place where out of sight out of mind is a major game changer. It’s so easy to mindlesly snack on junk food, especially when it’s easily accessible in the pantry.
To keep yourself from falling into that trap in the first place, simply avoid bringing junk food in at all. I find that when I keep the things I KNOW I can’t control myself around out of the house, point blank, I tend to not fall victim of having extra calories in my diet that can hold me back in my fat loss efforts.
Now, I know for some of you, that might be impossible because you have kids, or you live with others. So you have to get a bit more creative…
I have a closet when I keep a stockpile of my favorite snacks – Limited Edition Oreos! I have all the crazy flavors that they come out with, and I buy 5 to 10 packs per special flavor just in case I like them and wish to eat them at some point in the future.
I have had these cookies in the house even in the midst of dieting for shows, and never have been tempted because where I keep them is in a closet that I’m not required to go into on a daily basis. So honestly, I forget about them until I actually WANT to have a pack.
So designate a cabinet in the kitchen (or the back end of a closet that you don’t have to go into) as the junk food area. Keeping these snacks out of your daily plane of view can go a long way in helping you to stay compliant.
New Year’s Resolution Fat Loss Tip #7: Schedule Your Cheat Meals
One of my favorite adages when it comes to fat loss: all or nothing leaves you with nothing in the end.
Well I kind of made that one up, but trust me, it’s rooted in first hand experiences and from observing hundreds of clients over the years as well.
It’s unrealistic to think that you have to be absolutely perfect on your diet in order to see success. In fact quite the opposite is true. Studies have shown that adhering to your diet around 90% of the time, while allowing for occasional small treats and off plan eating, is the KEY to success in the case of fat loss.
I always have clients stick to their meals during the week, and enjoy a cheat meal of their choice on the weekend. This helps TREMENDOUSLY with dietary compliance as the client doesn’t feel so restricted during the process of body transformation.
I like to take things a little further than that though…
I developed an approach to nutrition that I call the RoxStar Fitness Lifestyle 90/10 Approach. And in this approach, I like to consider not only having a free meal once a week for our clients, but I also add 2 to 3 SMALL snacks or treats in there as well.
Now, these small treats are just little things that the client can have IF they wish, and is there is help them to kill a craving. So having something like a small piece of cake, or ice cream, or whatever they may wish is possible as long as they follow my guidelines when it comes to serving sizes.
And the best part, it never throws them off plan. Instead we see increased fat loss due to their ability to comply to the diet a majority of the time.
The final layer of the RoxStar 90/10 is the ability to sub foods out whenever they wish. There’s no reason why you should be eating the same foods, day in and day out. Or that you are completely restricted in your food choices. In fact, that’s a surefire way to FALL OFF of your plan.
Variety is the spice of life. It’s also the main reason why you will be able to stick to your plan in the long term. So allow yourself to sub foods out of your plan, use different spices, seasonings, and marinades to make the flavors pop in your food. Do whatever you need to do to make your food palatable and something you look forward to having.
These things are all so important in the case for your success down the road. So apply them immediately, and watch where you end up one year from now.
New Year’s Resolution Fat Loss Tip #8: Aim For Your Best – Not Perfection
The final New Year’s Resolution Fat Loss tip I want to leave you with is about having a broad view of your journey. The last thing you want to do is get caught up in having tunnel vision, and stay so strict on your plan that any slip up can, and will throw you off.
You absolutely must think about aiming for the best YOU can bring to the table, but understand that your best doesn’t mean perfection.
Being perfectly on plan, and perfectly sticking to your workout schedule day in and day out is impossible. I mean, sure, it’s great and even inspiring in concept, but that rarely is the reality of the situation for almost everyone.
Aim for putting in your all, for doing things for the long term, and known that there will indeed be times that you falter. But seeing your goals come to pass is all about how you get back up and keep going. That’s what separates those who win at this, and those who give up and fail – only to see themselves back to another January 1st making yet another promise to “do it for real” this time.
You CAN do this! And yes, it might take some effort, but with the right mindset and will to succeed, this time will be your last time chasing that New Year’s Fat Loss Resolution.
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#BOOM!!!!