Weight Loss in the New Year

I wanted to write a little blurb about what is probably the most popular new year's resolution.. losing weight. Needless to say that every year around this time people's biggest goal is to lose weight in the new year. If they need to lose weight then that's great; I definitely encourage people to have a goal and stick to it, but where people fall short is in sticking to their goals.

I read somewhere once, not in these exact words, that it's not the goal we enjoy or want, but the 'getting there'. All throughout December and earlier, people are already planning their weight loss for the new year and getting all excited and then when the new year comes around their motivation to reach their goal drops with each passing month. You can probably graph gym attendance throughout a year and it wouldn't surprise me to see it peak in January then drop.

One mistake people make is seeing their goal, take weight loss as an easy and common example, as a short-term thing that they'll be 'done' with once the weight has dropped. That's a perfect recipe for failure. Not only that but motivation to reach and stick with your goals is a whole other topic. It's better to see the start of the year as a change in your HABITS, not a temporary change that will help you lose some weight. Make a plan to change your eating habits, change the time you wake up everyday to have time to make more food from home, schedule some time for the gym, but most importantly stick to your plan whatever it is.

If you start to see your goal as something that you will have completed when you reach your target weight, I can guarantee you there will be a rebound effect. Always allow yourself to eat what you like in moderation. People make the mistake of taking things to the extreme, especially with these New Year's weight loss goals. Something like "starting today I'll never eat chocolate again", or "instead of working out for one hour I'm going to work out for seven" are very unrealistic expectations. The weight will always drop off quickly at the beginning and then slow down, and this is where people lose their drive. Weight loss and muscle gain follow a similar pattern, the beginning is always the easiest and then they plateau. Don't forget that a smaller body requires less calories to fuel, so once you've dropped a decent amount of weight and you still feel like you want to drop a little more, look over your diet again because if you track calories you might realize that you're eating the same amount that you did before you lost the weight.