Do You Have Healthy Habits?

Do you eat the same thing for breakfast every morning? Are your gym visits always at the same time of day? Do you stick to a regular bedtime schedule?

Perhaps you are not so regimented. Maybe your gym schedule is crazy and your sleep schedule is chaotic. Maybe you eat whatever is put before you or whatever smells good at the moment.

Consider a famous quote by John Dryden “We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.”　

And other spoken by Confucius “Men’s natures are alike; it is their habits that separate them.”　

Why not one from Aristotle as well? “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”　

Obviously, some of the greatest thinkers in history agree that your habits determine what you ultimately become in life.

There are just two very important habits that healthy, thin people embrace exercise and healthy eating. Look at anyone who has a great body and you will see that they incorporate these two habits into their life in some manner. NYC personal trainers are often their best friends in health. 　

Are you unhappy with your body right now? Then seek out our weight loss programs in NYC or just use the following strategy for adopting healthy eating and exercise habits. 　

How to Create a Healthy Habit

Picking up a healthy habit is as simple as this 7 step process. 　

1) Select a single habit that you would like to adopt. Resist the temptation to take on several habits all at once, even if all those things do need work. It is more realistic to tackle them one at a time. 　

Do you need some ideas for healthy habits that will change your life?  Talk to our NYC personal trainers or use this quick list:

a.. Cut off all eating after 7 PM.

b.. Go back to your school days and start packing your lunch. c.. Pick four days and start exercising 45 minutes after work on those days. d.. Limit afternoon snacks to fresh produce. e.. Set the alarm early so you can exercise every morning for about an hour. f.. Set appointments with our NYC personal trainers two days a week.

2) Make this new habit real by putting it to paper. Then make a list of the three things motivating you to adopt this healthy habit. Then write down the obstacles that you may stumble upon along the way and how you plan to jump over them.

Here’s an example to show how this looks:

a.. I want to work on the healthy habit of meeting with my NYC personal trainers three times every week.

b.. I am motivated by these three things 1) bathing suit confidence come summertime. 2) Increased energy. 3) Looking amazing in those new skinny jeans.　

c.. I expect these obstacles to come my way 1) A general lack of energy after working all day.　 2) Not being able to afford weight loss programs in NYC or my personal training sessions. 3) My spouse will not support me emotionally.　

d..The solutions to these obstacles will be 1) Scheduling morning workouts with our NYC personal trainers rather than going after work. 2) Eliminating wasteful spending to make room in the budget for my weight loss programs in NYC. 3) Bringing my spouse into the process with me so we can get healthy together.

3) Go public with this goal so everyone knows what you are doing. This puts you on the spot so you either follow through or get embarrassed when others ask how you’re doing with that goal. Go to Facebook or Twitter and let everyone in on your new habit or just announce it at dinner to those closest to you.

4) Establish some form of progress monitoring. This could be simply　 marking on a calendar for every day you follow through it could be a journal or diary kept to record your journey. 　

5) Return to Facebook, Twitter, or those that you told in your private life and give regular updates on your journey. If you keep them updated on how you are doing they can offer invaluable support when things get hard.

6) Don’t let failures get you down. Specify what went wrong and come up with a solution to beat the obstacle next time around.

7) Give yourself a prize when you are successful. 　

Within 30 days you should settle into a routine and that healthy habit will feel like a normal part of your life. This is when you can add in a new healthy habit to build on your new healthy life.

I would love for my weight loss program in NYC to be your first healthy habit. Our NYC personal trainers can make a world of difference so give me a call today.

Laser Sharp Focus

You should have laser sharp focus on just one goal at a time for maximum success. If you tackle more than one at a time, you end up getting nowhere because your energy is so spread out. Keep it focused and you can always pick up another healthy habit when the first has been added with success. Go ahead and write all of your goals down and come back to that list as you accomplish each one.

Sign up for your 50% Off Introductory Session by calling (212) 255-5842 or visit our website at www.methodfitness.com

Do your goals typically go unmet? 　

There are more people used to failing at goals than there are people used to finding success. This is why those working in the self help industry are making a killing today. 　

The problem is the strategies typically used in the self help industry fail more often then they succeed. 　Personal trainers in NYC see it all too often.

The “Yale Goal Study” is often cited as proof that goal setting really works. In the 1950s researchers asked the graduating class of Yale if they had set goals that they wanted to accomplish in the next phases of their life. Only 3% of the class had done so. When researchers contacted members of the class 20 years later they discovered that the 3% of the class that had written down goals was wealthier than all of the others in the class put together.

That would speak very well for the art of goal setting…if only the story were true! 　

You can look through many different self help books and listen to many different motivational speakers referring to the Yale Goal Study, but it was never a real study.

One person who does know about the art of goal setting is Richard Wiseman.

He is a psychologist turned bestselling author who made it his mission to respond to the many illegitimate self help strategies being used today. He did tons of research and came up with a no-fail system for setting and achieving goals. 　

Wiseman’s book, 59 Seconds Change Your Life in Under a Minute, revealed five “Do This” strategies that are successful and five “Not That” strategies that are unsuccessful. They are listed right here for your benefit.

Do This: Set out the instructions with detailed steps.

Successful goal planning requires a plan that lists detailed steps that will lead up to accomplishment. 　If you aren’t sure how to do this, discuss it with one of our in home personal trainers in NYC for help.

Each of those goals must then be broken down into sub-goals that can be measured and which have a timeline attached. These sub-goals must be very specific.

a.. Not That Find someone you look up to and use them as inspiration for achieving your own goals.

No matter how much you admire someone else, that admiration will never be strong enough to keep your motivation high to achieve personal goals.

Studies have proven this.

Do This: Let others know what your goals are and that you are really going for them.

If you are serious about reaching your goal you won’t hide it from others.

Put it out there to your friends and family members so they can see you progress.

There are two reasons this strategy really works. The first comes down to pride. Once you tell everyone you are going to achieve this goal, you don’t want to publicly embarrass yourself with a failure. The second reason comes down to support. Once others know what you are doing they can support you in a very powerful way. Just having someone rooting for you can make a world of difference when the goal gets hard.

a.. Not That Focus on the bad elements of the goal achieving process.

Don’t focus on the bad things so much that they become a reality you have to live with. The mind is a powerful thing.

Do This: Keep your mind tuned to the positive elements of achieving your goal.

Keep the benefits of success close in mind so there is no room for the negatives.

List all the ways your life will be improved once this goal is accomplished.

Keep this list close at hand when you start to doubt or negative thoughts start to take over.

a.. Not That Negativity is forced out of mind.

Learn to deal with reality and the changes you have to make to be successful. This is more effective than trying to mentally resist the chocolate cake.

Do This: Use a reward system to acknowledge progress.

Studies have proven that people who reward themselves along the way are more successful.

The rewards should be unrelated to your goals or should help you reach your goals. If you reward yourself with cheesecake for losing ten pounds it will become harder to lose the next ten pounds.

a.. Not That Depend on willpower to get you through.

There is a reason most people struggle with willpower. It simply isn’t enough to bring success.

Do This: Set up a recording system to monitor progress.

Put your step-by-step plans, sub-goals, rewards and other program elements down on paper. This makes them real.

Set up a place to record your progress over time either in a notebook, in a computer file, or on a board somewhere in your home. This is a tremendous source of motivation.

a.. Not That Spend time imagining life after achieving your goal.

You cannot make the dream come true without real action. Thinking about how great life will be is unproductive.

Contact our personal trainers in NYC today if you are ready to put your goals into action. This is the only thing that will make the daydream your reality.

If you have trouble procrastinating or putting off your workouts until they never happen, there is a way to psych yourself up. Just make yourself get in the gym and start the workout. The trick is that those first few minutes trigger your desire to complete the workout. Getting started is the hardest part.

Sign up for your 50% Off Introductory Session by calling (212) 255-5842 or visit our website at www.methodfitness.com

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