Why Wait Until New Years to Change?
It’s BRICK here in Long Island, NY! As of this writing, it’s 15 degrees Fahrenheit (not accounting for the wind chill!), which is equivalent to -10 degrees Celsius. One of my life aspirations is to eventually leave New York for a warmer place that doesn’t have too much risk of a natural disaster. You know what I’m talking about: The earthquakes, the hurricanes, the tsunamis, and the tornadoes of the world. Nothing’s more terrifying to me weather-wise than seeing a funnel coming down from the sky, sucking everything up in its wake and throwing those things miles away. Soooo creepy…
Anyhow, today I want to piggyback a bit on what I wrote to you yesterday. We’re just a few days away from 2018, and it’s coming down to crunch time to come up with your New Year’s Resolution. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of making a resolution for the year, as it’s often a very daunting task. You may thing it’s helpful to want to have a concrete idea of how many lbs and how many inches you’d like to lose by the end of the year, but I assure you, it’s not!
Setting a New Year’s Resolution is like approaching a situation that has a million-and-one things to do: It’s overwhelming to think about, and when you look at things from the bigger, macro perspective, you’re a lot more likely to throw in the towel because you’ll freak out about not knowing where to even begin. Don’t believe me? An article from early 2017 in Business Insider stated that 80% of New Year’s Resolutions are given up on by February of that same year! That’s just a month of a person sticking to his/her desired annual goal(s) before throwing in the towel!!
If you truly want to change, then it’s important to break your goals down into daily, weekly, or (at most, in my opinion!) monthly-sized chunks. It’s also good to distinguish between objective and subjective goals.
An objective goal is one that can easily be measured with data, i.e. how much weight you’re looking to lose in a certain period, or how many inches in that same period. A subjective goal is one that’s not as easily quantified. An example of this kind of goal would be taking progress photos of yourself from the front, the back, and the side on a weekly basis, and analyzing any improvements that you see.
Often when it comes to subjective measurements, different people will feel differently about any progress (or lack thereof) that was made when comparing things like physical change. This is where you might want to add a few supportive folks into the fold, so you can get their positive take on how you’ve improved week-to-week, or month-to-month. They may see something positively in your Before and Afters that you’re not, as we often tend to be harder on ourselves than we are on anyone else…
One last thing: We are just a few days away from 2018, and you may be looking to have one last hoorah before going on a diet and joining a gym come Monday, or maybe Tuesday. You can do that, but keep in mind that you have a choice: You can knowingly continue to sabotage your goals for the next 3–4 days, or you can change — NOW!
Don’t wait — Take that first step today!! It can be as simple as going for a walk around the block (weather-permitting). It can be dusting off that elliptical or indoor bike that’s become an additional clothing rack in your bedroom, and powering that sucker up! It can be going through your freezer, your fridge, and your pantry, and emptying out all the crap from each. It can be going to the grocery store and stocking up on healthy foods while foregoing the usual junk that you purchase because it’s cheap and it gives you a dopamine high.
Whatever it is, just DO IT! Do one thing at a time. Take it one day at a time. It’s a cliche’ phrase you’ll often hear professional athletes say time and time again, but there’s a reason they say it (outside of it being something they’ve been trained to relay to the media’s antagonistic questioning): IT WORKS!
Have a great Friday ;-)
Sincerely,
Pete Weintraub
pete@weightlossbypete.com
P.S. P.S. If you’re looking for more messages like this about Permanent Weight Loss, then you’re definitely going to want to join the Permanent Weight Loss Community I recently opened on Facebook ;-)
This group is for people who are looking to lose 50 or more lbs, is for people who are looking to prevent debilitating, impending disease(s) due to unhealthy lifestyle habits, and is for people who are looking to avoid undergoing weight loss surgery. It is for folks who are tired of wasting money on fad diets, on short-term fitness programs, and on BS supplements that do nothing more than keep you in a constant cycle of yo-yoing with both your weight and your health.
Members of this group will learn how to lose weight in a healthy, sustainable and PERMANENT way! As a result, you’ll never have to count calories again, you’ll never have to pay for a gym membership you’ll never use, and you’ll never have to go under the knife for a procedure that can’t possibly guarantee long-term health and weight loss results.
If this sounds good to you, then join us! We’re a community of likeminded individuals who want the same thing that you do: Permanent Weight Loss!
To join, please go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/pwl50plus/
