Setting ‘realistic’ goals key to staying on top of new year’s resolutions: health professionals

Making a new year’s resolution is easy. Keeping one, however, is a different story.

“A lot of times when people have resolutions they fail to set goals or put both short and long-term goals in place,” said Dr. Julien Payne, a Halifax-based Doctor of Chiropractic and certified strength and conditioning specialist.

Every year millions of people resolve to lose weight, get healthy and kick their bad eating habits to the curb.

“You need to have a purpose behind your plan. For example, you may want to be able to play with your kids as you get older. You really need to have a plan in place and secondly you need to track your goals,” said Payne.

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And while it’s good to set personal goals for yourself, it’s important to be realistic.

“If someone sets the goal to lose 50 pounds in a month, as healthcare professionals we know that’s not realistic to do that safely. It’s not only unhealthy, but you’ll also become discouraged if you don’t reach the goals you set,” said Payne.

He says the best way to guarantee you’ll stick to your plan well past February is to engage in activities you enjoy doing.

“Whether it’s swimming, joining a running group, doing yoga classes or getting back to your favourite sport, choose something that you know you’re going to adhere to so that you don’t lose track of why you’re doing it in the first place,” said Dr. Payne, adding that the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines recommend that adults aged 18 to 64 invest in at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week.

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1:32 New Year’s resolutions for 2017 and how to keep them