1. Plan, Plan, Plan!

If you lack a plan, you are setting yourself up to fail. This includes eating out, grocery shopping for the week, and scheduling your workouts. It doesn't stop there...

Plan time with family and friends. A little R&R goes a long way! If you don't' take care of yourself, you are no good to anyone else! Plan to go to bed at a reasonable hour. 6-8 hours of sleep is necessary to keep your hormones in check and see results. Want ways to get better sleep? Here's a blog for you!

If it's a solid plan for working out that you need, set up some sessions with Genesis group or personal training to help you stay accountable, or make plans with a friend to take a group fitness class. If you know your friend/spouse/sibling is counting on you to show up and sweat together, you are less likely to reset your alarm and skip. Being accountable, buddying up, planning ahead by reserving your spot through the Genesis member portal all help ensure you follow through with your fitness plan.

2. Know your WHY.

It's time to get deep, be mindful, and reflect! One of the biggest motivators to help you stick to your goals is to remind yourself of your "why," as in the why you created the goal in the first place.

Maybe your why is to get healthy, but we encourage you to go deeper. Why get healthy? Maybe for your mental health. Or perhaps to relieve stress. Maybe for your family so that you can pick up your kids without your knees giving out. Maybe you just want to feel good in your jeans again, or you want to run without getting winded. Perhaps you want to ski because you used to love it, and you're tired of saying, "no, I cant."

If getting healthy is your goal, we encourage you to dig deeper and ask yourself, "what does healthy mean to me?" Whatever the goal might be - to eat better, spend more time with family, wake up a bit earlier -  understand your why and why you started in the first place. Your "why" will help keep you motivated when you feel like giving up. 

3. Have a Goal, Measure it Often.

Be specific, and measure your success frequently. If you set short-term goals, it's easy to give up on them by the end of January. Think LONG-TERM. Think of all the steps that will get you to the finish line - a goal that will last and is not so short-lived.

For instance, if a client of Genesis Personal Training wants to get ready for a wedding or a vacation, it's a great short-term goal. However, once that event passes, the client will go right back to old habits that got them into trouble in the first place! Think about changing your lifestyle. Measure your success often and keep yourself in check with the long-term goal. Go the distance. You won't regret it!

4. Find a form of exercise that works for YOU.

There are so many options available to you to be fit. Your friend may love that workout-alone, big gym feel, and you may want more of a group fitness feel for the social aspect! Everyone is different when it comes to fitness. The key is to find out what works for you so that you stick to it! After all, it has been shown that you're more likely to form a habit when you enjoy what you're doing. So, if you hate running, you can still get your cardio in through swim, biking, hiking. etc. It's all about what makes sense to you - mind, body, and spirit.

At Genesis Health Clubs, you have many options from free weights to strength-training or cardio machines, from daily group fitness classes to personal training, from Bootcamps and Aquatics to Pilates, boxing, or Yoga. There's something for everyone at Genesis to get fit with and enjoy the experience.

And don't forget to count all those recreational activities you love to do outside the gym walls that also burn a ton of calories! Whether it be gardening, playing with your family outside, snowboarding, walking in nature, etc... Whatever the active activity is where you almost forget you're working out because you enjoy it too much, keep it up and keep doing it!

5. Love your food, but stick to the plan.

It's ok to enjoy the occasional treat or hearty meal, but only a tiny percentage of the time. Researchers at Florida State University found physiological evidence that exerting willpower burns energy. This is why it's all the more difficult to exert that willpower when it's late at night. So be mindful of those late-night urges, and distract yourself to help. Maybe you're not hungry; perhaps you're just bored. Instead of a big bowl of ice cream if you are starving, have some fruit and yogurt to satisfy your sweet tooth.

If you make a poor choice, your reaction is critical, according to Professor John C. Norcross, Ph.D., who says that avoiding self-blame is key. Once it's shrugged off, 71% of successful resolvers say their first slip-up strengthened their efforts. When you avoid too much self-blame after a slip, you're more likely to get back on the horse. If you frequently self-blame, you are more likely to give up altogether.

Bottom Line: Avoid the ALL OR NOTHING mentality!