So, the new year is upon us and with that brings many resolutions to be better this year and to get fitter in an attempt to be happier with what we have achieved by the end of 2016 (than perhaps we felt at the turn of the clock on 31st December 2015). My very first thought is to shout at you “Don’t be so hard on yourself” and then I’d like to explain how you can make New Years Resolutions that work…

The biggest issue with resolutions made in January is that we tend to look at all of the negatives in our lives and really zone in on what we aren’t happy with and then we decide to fix it all in one foul swoop – lets be honest, this is not realistic and is pretty daunting. So when you are amazingly dedicated to a strict new regime for 10 or 11 days and then get so fed up of the effort and denial of all of the nicer things in life, its understandably really that you just have a blow out and give it all up as quickly as you started! Lets break it down and take baby steps. Decide what your priority is – is it meditation, is it diet, is it weight, is it fitness? Write down your resolutions in a bulleted list and then number them in importance from 1 – 5, if you have more than 5 keep going but again, be realistic!! Often one resolution gets you to the other i.e.Loose Weight & Get Fit.

Now that you have your list, make a plan for perhaps the first 2 for January and February. The trick is to make lifestyle changes that are easy to maintain in the long term. Once your body and mind has adapted to this change introduce in the others and keep going that way throughout the year.

So, what about when you have the inevitable set backs? Well, really do not worry. When we fall off the wagon we have such a bad habit of saying “well sure thats it f*cked now!” and we give up completely. Its only normal to have bad days, weekends or even weeks so don’t beat yourself up about it. Draw a line in the sand and get back into it. All year around I remind my clients that you don’t need a new year to make a change – just a new day 😉

The most common two resolutions I see with my clients is to loose weight and to get fit/healthy. These are great as they go hand in hand and a bit of news for you… there is an underlying 3rd if either of these are on your list and that’s diet. When I say diet I mean what you eat all day every day not going on a specific diet with a start and end date. All the exercise in the world will not cancel out a bad diet, also its impossible to be healthy, focused and happy if your body is on a constant sugar roller coaster and full of poor quality processed food. As I see these resolutions evey year and also meet lots of dedicated and ambitious peoplein january who by easter are a distant memory I’ve decided to run an Operation Transformation project for the community in Rathdowney & Errill in an attempt to help people set realistic goals, move more and eat better. I’ll be doing this all via the gym in Rathdowney and the best part – I’m not going to charge a penny for it so there is no excuse! Watch this space for our Transforming the Community updates here.