Ways to Make and Keep New Year's Resolutions

1.  Set specific, measurable goals.  Examples:  "I will walk for 30 minutes five times per week."  "I'll switch from 1-percent to nonfat milk." "Twice a week, I'll do an upper-body weight workout for 20 minutes."

2.  Be realistic.  A small goal you can meet is better than a bigger one
that makes you anxious and sets you up for failure.

3.  Focus on performance, not outcome.  You can control whether or not you
follow your daily meal plan; you can't control whether this results in a weight loss at every single weigh in.

4.  Favor positive goals over negative goals.  Positive goals tell us what to do; negative goals tell us what to avoid.  It's best to focus on alternatives that give you pleasure and help you move forward.

5.  Strengthen your resolve by deciding why weight loss and better health are important to you.

6.  Know your weaknesses.  Keep yourself out of temptation's way when possible.

7.  Learn to recognize which motions trigger your worst habits.  Find other ways of dealing with these emotions.

8.  If simple boredom is the culprit, seek out fun, constructive activities.  This makes it less likely you'll overeat to fill the vacuum in your life.

9.  When you make a mistake, acknowledge it and move on.  Everyone
stumbles once in a while, but the successful person refuses to stay down for long.


10.  Be flexible.  People who are successful at losing and maintaining
weight have a plan; yet, they "go with the flow" to alter that plan when
necessary.

~Author Unknown~