With the festive season behind us, the New Year offers a clean slate – a fresh start to achieve goals and jump on the healthy bandwagon.
Recent studies reveal that the most popular New Year’s resolutions involve health and wellbeing, but only 27% of people actually manage to turn their resolutions into life-changing habits. Most peter out before the first month is even up!
Our wellness specialists are sharing some tips to help you genuinely reach those goals. Many of these principles come from our 8 Weeks to Wellness program that we know is fool proof.
1. Make your goal clear & your expectations realistic
We make goals because we’re looking for some kind of change, but one of the reasons a new habit doesn’t stick is because we don’t free-up room or time for it. Most of us already lead busy lives, and packing more tasks in can take its toll on our mental wellbeing.
So, take a look at your current lifestyle and see how much time you can realistically devote weekly to your newfound habit.
2. Life isn’t all or nothing
Diets are NEVER fun. The word itself can conjure feelings of restrictions, shame and failure because everyone has been on a diet once, and for most, it wasn’t sustainable. We imagine half-empty plates where everything that’s good in life is missing. It’s one of the reasons many people say they’ll start dieting next week. It’s so much easier to put it off.
At Spinal Care Clinics we focus on a lifestyle change which balances healthy habits with foods that will still get your taste buds going. Improving nutrition is key to success on the 8 Weeks to Wellness program. In the first week we do cut out all sugars because most people don’t realise that hidden sugars are everywhere! Like this, we break the sugar craving cycle and then slowly reintroduce the right foods depending on what you enjoy and what’s right for your body.
Develop an enjoyable, clean-eating plan that changes your relationship with food in a good way. A good starting point is to avoid anything with ‘sugar-free or diet’ written on the packaging as these are usually stuffed with unhealthy substitutes.
3. Getting fit & healthy isn’t about losing weight
The body’s weight isn’t purely made of fat, so weight-loss doesn’t mean fat-loss and this is important!
There are so many benefits to improving muscle mass. It helps us perform just about any task faster and with ease, while also improving metabolism by burning calories even at rest.
Excess-fat, on the other hand, leads to all kinds of health problems including musculoskeletal issues, because extra weight puts pressure on joints that aren’t well supported by muscle.
All of those who have completed the 8WW reduce body fat significantly and look more toned due to increased muscle mass. The take home message here is to reduce fat and build muscle because overall bodyweight says little about your health.
4. Tackle those stress levels
We can’t achieve positive change unless we’re happy, content and relaxed in the present. Many of us are aware of areas of life that are causing stress but we choose to ignore them in the hope that it will turn out alright in the end. In the 8 Weeks to Wellness we focus on mindfulness and meditation because situations that can cause stress will always be present. We can’t remove stress. Life doesn’t work that way, but we can adapt our response to stress.
5. Get rid of pain
Like mental unrest, physical pain can be a massive setback in maintaining fitness and health. Relieving common chronic conditions such as back pain, neck pain or stiffness in the shoulders and knees can be the greatest goal in itself. If you’re suffering from any type of musculoskeletal issues then an examination and spinal adjustment may be just what your chiropractic doctor ordered.
Healing, in all senses, is at the heart of our Brentwood Clinic and 8 Weeks to Wellness. By leading a fit and healthy life we build the best environment to thrive in and ward-off disease, but first we need to break through the pain barrier and get to the root of the problem.
Whatever happens, don’t throw in the towel if you slip-up. To achieve long lasting results we rule out the possibility of failure, because there is no such thing! Being fit, healthy and happy is a lifelong journey with ups and downs. What matters is simply that you’re on the path.