Top tips for achieving your 2022 goals

from Bristol Weekly Magazine 6th - 13th January 2022

Vegan Chicken Katsu for Veganuary

A new year often brings with bit thoughts of a fresh start, this is especially true in the health of business where after the indulgence of Christmas new health goal are particularly popular. However many New Year’s resolutions don’t make it to February. So if you’ve already started your goals or are planning on starting something soon, here are just two ideas that may help you achieve them in 2022.

Be realistic with you goal in short term. Drastic changes in diet can occasionally bring a sudden improvement but if this isn’t a healthy and maintainable method of losing weight - the impact of the change can very quickly plateau leading to a sharp return to old habits. Dropping lots of weight immediately in the first few weeks of the year may sound great, but even if you achieve this, you would then be highly likely to regain this weight and more within a short space of time. The most efficient way of losing weight is with steady and consistent progress through a routine of diet and exercise that you can do permanently. If you find yourself with goals that are too demanding in short term, give yourself a more realistic time frame and never be afraid to adjust your goals once you’ve set them. 42 It is always better to have something to aim for than heading off without plan.

Keep an accurate track of your results. So much emphasis is put on what the scales say, but I find this way of measuring a person’s progress to be completely flawed and highly disheartening. What are we actually trying to measure? Fat! So why do we weigh the bones, the hair, the skin, the muscles and the fluids all together and make determining decisions on health based from the outcome?

For men the best indicators of how you’re doing is to measure around the stomach, for women it’s around the thighs and buttocks, but of course you can do both and various other areas for even greater accuracy. Identify the area of greatest circumference (where most of the fat is being stored) and measure the same are at the same time of day once every two weeks. This will give a far more accurate view of your progress and how the changes in your diet are impacting your health.

Good luck and happy new year!

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