We are into the third week of a brand New Year and your resolutions have gone from a 5 day a week exercise commitment to driving by the gym on the way home and picking up a frozen pizza to head home for an evening of Netflix. If this is you, don’t beat yourself up. It’s likely that the goal you set was a bit lofty and not realistic for you from the get go.
You see, the thing with creating change is all in taking the time to establish new habits. Because let’s face it, going from not having exercise a part of your day at all to going 5 days a week is likely not going to stick. New habits in any area of our lives take time to develop if they are going to last!
So let’s revisit that New Year’s resolution. If it was in fact to start exercising let’s take a different approach. Why not start with 2 days a week for 15 minutes a day. Do this for two weeks and by the third week add on another day in effect increasing the frequency of our workouts. Now we are up to 3 days a week so it’s time to increase either our 15 minute workout intensity if our time is short, or increase the duration to 30 minutes. Sound doable?
Not only is it doable, but it takes out the disappointment you may have in yourself for not meeting the overwhelming initial goal of 5 or even 7 days a week.
Starting slowly is going to create long, lasting habits that will serve you for a lifetime because you are now creating a LIFESTYLE approach. This is where the real change happens and eliminates the need for New Year’s resolutions altogether as the healthy habits are already in place!
If you feel in the dark about how to exercise effectively or are unsure about anything I’ve talked about please reach out to me at kathryn@blueskyfitnessandhealthcoaching.com I’d love to help you reach your goals!
