How to achieve your New Year's resolutions

We know how you’re feeling right now.

It’s the middle of January and the reality of your health and fitness New Year's resolutions are starting to dawn on you. 

The memories of chocolate and alcohol feel like a different world to gym classes and detoxes.

Christmas and New Years celebrations are over and there’s a long year ahead of you.

But don't worry, because we're here to help get you through it.

We’ve done some research and have come up with a handful of great ways to help you keep on track with your health and fitness goals.

So, here are our five top tips for staying motivated and sticking to your health and fitness new year's resolutions in 2020.

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Keep it varied

If you want to get fit, head to the gym.

Well, not exactly. 

According to the Mirror, people in Britain are wasting £588m a year on unused gym memberships - with more than one in 10 people saying they hadn’t stepped foot inside their gym for a whole year.

Clearly, people aren’t sticking to their gym classes!

Don't get us wrong, the gym can be great, but sometimes motivating yourself to go every single evening can be stressful.

We’d suggest limiting your time at the gym and instead, focus on other activities to keep you healthy.

Fortunately for you guys, we have a pretty good app that can help you with that...

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Make it manageable

According to Business Insider, 80% of New Year's resolutions fail by the second week in February.

Pretty quick right!

Dietician expert Abigail Wilson suggests that this is down to the fact that people are trying to do too much, too soon.

So, we’d suggest making your exercise and diet manageable, accessible and affordable.

Realistically, are you really going to go from no exercise and indulgent food in December to daily fitness sessions and low carb, low fat, low everything diets in January?

Instead, make small goals and build on them over time. Even limiting yourself to three exercise sessions a week will keep you on track for the next few months.

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Train with a friend 

Couples who sweat together, stay together.

Whether it’s your partner, friend, neighbour or work colleague, we couldn’t recommend exercising in a pair or group enough.

Not only will they add a competitive edge to your fitness sessions and drive you to improve, but they’ll also provide a companion to help drag you through your activities.

There’s some smart thinking behind this too. 20th century social psychologist Robert Zajonc says that ‘the mere presence of someone else affects your ability to do an activity’.

Fitness buddies are a great help, so get searching.

Celebrate the good days

You’ve been working hard and eating healthily for the past few weeks, why not treat yourself?

Rewards are a great incentive for continuing with your new year's resolutions and provide you with some much needed motivation to keep going.

It could be a pair of new shoes after a month of clean eating, or a trip to the cinema after a new PB.

ResearchGate states that rewards are a key factor in driving motivation, so if you want to keep motivated for the whole year make sure you are rewarding yourself.

After all, the hard work should always pay off.

Don’t stress about it

When starting out on your New Year's resolution, the important thing to remember is that it’s meant to be a challenge, it’s meant to be hard, but it’s also meant to be fun.

You may have hard moments when you want to give up. You may have days when you simply don't have time to make it to the gym.

But this doesn't mean it’s time to quit and give up, you just need to dust yourself off and go again.

So get ready for the rough days, you’re going to have a few of them. Just make sure the next day is a fresh start.

It’s about the long-term successes, not the short-term setbacks.

Now it’s up to you

So there you have it.

Our five top tips for keeping your New Year's resolutions on track.

And if you need a bit of help getting started, Orfi Active can help you find a wide range of sessions to keep you active, so if you are unsure as to which fitness activity to take part in, download our app now and get started.

We’ve given you all the advice we can, but now it’s up to you to go and find your active. 

#WhatsYourActive