When the new year comes around, a lot of us make the effort to try and introduce a new, healthier lifestyle. This often takes the form of creating a New Year’s fitness resolution.
However, whether you’re looking to gain muscle or lose weight, fitness resolutions can have a bad reputation. Most people don’t find themselves achieving their goals because, by the time it’s February, their fitness mission has been forgotten.
Achieving your fitness goals isn’t going to be an easy feat – which is what makes it so rewarding.
So, to help you stay on track, we’ve got a few sure-fire strategies to aid you in keeping your fitness resolution.
1. Plan Ahead
Whether your goal is to go to the gym more often or to cut down on the processed sugars in your diet, planning is key.
No matter if you need to set aside some time to do some meal prepping, or you need to schedule in some more gym sessions, planning really will help you keep yourself on track.
Working with and making time for your fitness goals instead of working against them is going to keep you accountable and keep you motivated.
2. Make A Pros And Cons List
Listing the positives and negatives of achieving your aim is always a good way to keep an honest perspective on what matters.
Generally, you’re going to find that the positives far outweigh the negatives, which is going to give you that extra boost of motivation to really strive to achieve your fitness goals.
If you find yourself in a slump and can’t remind yourself why you set out on your fitness mission in the first place, circle back to your list.
3. Increase Your Protein
Fitness goals are rarely achieved if you’re not fuelling your body in the right way and with the right nutrients.
We’re talking about protein – due to the fact that it makes up such a big source of our body’s energy and you simply cannot function properly without enough of it. Too little protein, and you will be left feeling too weak and lethargic to even think about going to the gym.
If you’re looking to shape up, protein is the key to promoting muscle growth and tissue recovery after a workout. Likewise, if you’re wanting to lose weight, protein helps you stay fuller for longer, reducing the likelihood of unhealthy snacking.
The best way to ensure that you’re meeting your protein requirements is to incorporate protein treats like our blueberry cobbler protein oats into your diet.
4. Walk, Don’t Drive
Even if your fitness resolution is revolved around training for a big event, small changes and alterations to your daily activities can make all the difference.
One change that everybody should make an effort to make is to stop driving where you could just walk instead. Not only does walking save you money, it helps you stay active and gets you closer to those fitness goals.
5. Stay Realistic
Make peace with the fact that achieving your goal isn’t going to happen overnight – it’s going to take a lot of hard work and determination. Many people aim too high too quickly, and end up feeling demotivated when they aren’t successful soon enough.
Instead of aiming for the finish line straight away, start by making small, attainable goals, such as taking the stairs instead of using an elevator, that will allow you to recognize your progress over time.
6. Experiment With New Things
A lot of the time, we’ll get bored of our resolutions and lose interest in them because they just aren’t stimulating and exciting enough. This can especially be said for fitness resolutions if you’re doing the same thing during every gym session.
Therefore, keep it interesting by trying out and experimenting with new things. Go to that new fitness class your gym is advertising, or jump on board with the latest fitness trend, and see where it takes you.
7. Level Up Your Nutrition
While fitness is largely revolved around being active and staying on your feet, your diet also plays a major part in just how successful you are.
You don’t even have to make major changes either – start small by making additions such as adding a vegetable to your favorite meal, berries to your oatmeal or adding in a protein shake.
Go the extra mile and really make the effort to ensure that you’re getting the nutrients that your body both needs and deserves.
8. Do Your Research
A great way to keep your eyes on your goal is to do your research and really come to terms with the positive benefits of achieving your resolution.
This can take many forms – but a great way of starting out is to begin reading nutritional labels and getting to know just what is in the food you eat. For example, the ingredients in our protein shakes are real food ingredients.
Likewise, reading the nutrition facts will help you determine which brands are marketing their supplements as healthy and which brands make supplements that are actually healthy.
We all might like to believe that a cake or doughnut flavored protein shake is good for us but ingredients such a palm kernel oil reveal the truth.
With Naked Nutrition, our products are free of hidden sugars or sweeteners helping you achieve your fitness goals without any nasty extras.
9. Remain Positive
A major reason why people are too quick to give up on their fitness resolutions is simply down to the fact that they don’t have a good attitude when approaching the challenge at hand.
They seem to think that slipping up automatically does away with all their progress, which really isn’t the case.
Studies have found that those with a negative attitude are far more likely to fail at their resolutions when compared to those with positive outlooks. Even if you slip up, get back on track by reminding yourself why you want to achieve your goal.
10. Treat Yourself
Finally, give yourself some credit and reward yourself every now and again.
Treating yourself doesn’t mean having to break your diet or skip your next gym session – it can be as simple as treating yourself to a new protein powder recipe or a new piece of workout equipment.
Divide your goals up by making an effort to reward yourself for the little victories, and you’ll soon find that your overall fitness resolution is a lot more achievable than you might think.
Fitness resolutions are no easy feat and you should be proud of yourself for taking on the challenge. But to make your resolution last throughout 2020 follow the tips we discussed above.
Whether you’re looking to add mass with the boost of our weight gainer, or you’re looking to lose weight with the aid of our meal replacement shakes that have 20g of protein and only 150 calories, we’re right by your side with the perfect solutions.
