AURORA | Thinking about setting a New Year’s resolution to drop a few pounds? Toned by March? Beach ready by June?
Dr. Holly Wyatt, who is associate director of the University of Colorado Anschutz Health and Wellness Center and co-author of “State of Slim” has a few tips on making your goals stick this time. She also runs the center’s Extreme Weight Loss: Destination Boot Camp program that brings people to the wellness center for a weeklong training course similar to the TV show with the same name that was filmed there.
“You have to have your mind wrapped around the idea that not everything is going to be perfect,” she said.
That means moving past the eventual bumps in the road and committing to set your body on autopilot.
“What I mean by ‘autopilot’ is by making it easier two months from now,” she said. “Making your environment make it easier.”
Wyatt said people can start by losing 10 percent of their weight, or remembering what weight felt comfortable and aiming for that number.
Wyatt offers the following tips:
• Find your “real” why — “Be prepared for the bump, that’s when the real ‘why’ becomes important,” Wyatt said. The “real why” is the internal motivation that can help commit healthier behaviors for more than just a few weeks. Do you want to be healthier for your family?
• Be honest, are you ready? — Wyatt said that if your priority to lose weight isn’t higher than an 8 on a scale of 0-10, it may not last.
• Out with the old, in with the new — New friends, new routines and new behaviors. “It’s about creating routines and rituals; little things that make the big, hard thing easier.” If getting up in the morning is hard, go to bed earlier to make that morning commute to the gym a little more pleasant.
• Road map to success — Write down what it’s going to take to achieve those New Year’s goals, she said. “You want a plan and you want to believe that you can succeed,” she said.
• Go public and get vulnerable — Wyatt said “good old-fashioned peer pressure” can be a big motivator. Tell friends and family what you want to do.
• Nobody’s perfect — Plan for the bump. Wyatt said people even write themselves letters for months down the road when motivation wanes. “While you’re fired up, write a letter to get past the tough parts.”
• Don’t hold back — Be fully committed. “Know your why, your what and your how, then go for it,” Wyatt writes.
• Score a quick win — “Part of (success) is having a bunch of things in place. And expecting to succeed in those goals.” Breaking a big goal into smaller goals can help motivate people by positively reinforcing healthier behavior.
• Create an autopilot and cruise to success — Wyatt said there’s no threshold for committing good behavior to habit, but resolutions are harder to keep after four to six weeks. “Just look at the gyms. Four weeks is difficult, a whole month is hard. People lose their motivation. When people create an autopilot it’s not going to be as hard.”