10 Reasons Why Resolution Fail - And How to Create One That Doesn't

It's that time of year again. If you're thinking, "Nah... resolutions are pointless." You might want to listen today as I spotlight 10 reasons we set ourselves up for failure.

I personally started today (Sunday the 27th) filled with hope (and I share the "Stupid" thing I did to say goodbye to 20202).

1. We think we read, we watch, but when it comes to action we don’t take enough action.
2. Sometimes the reason is we set HUGE goals. After all, “Go big or go home,” is a common saying these days. Those huge goals can be intimidating and so we trigger negative thoughts in our heads as we start to think “We can’t do it.”
3. If we do get past our negative thoughts we sometimes jump in with both feet and try to go from zero to 60 in record time. This leads to injury, burnout, and a pace that is not sustainable. We need to treat our weight loss like a marathon, not a sprint. Start with one step that you can accomplish then add another and another and help to make them habits.
4. We have unrealistic expectations. I think we might feel this because we can gain weight easily, so it must be easy to lose it. IT’s not. In the same way getting pregnant can take very little time and kind of fun, but getting the baby out is a whole different story.
5. We create a plan of doing things we hate. Sometimes we think we are doing the right thing by coming up with a plan filled with things we hate to do and the food we hate to eat. Then we wonder why it didn’t work. We have to get creative and come up with a plan that will work for us. There is a plan, we just need to find it. It’s not impossible. We just need to keep trying.
6. We focus on the wrong things. Sometimes we get the cart before the horse. We focus on the scale (the results) instead of focusing on the steps that will result in the scale going down.
7. We don’t track our progress. This results in us only focusing on how far we have to go which can be intimidating. When you track your progress you can see when things are working so you can do more of it.
8. We try to do it alone. Studies have shown having an accountability partner can help. In the logical losers private Facebook group, we weigh-in every Wednesday. When you know you are expected to share your weight, you might think twice about that second helping. Support can also spur you to keep trying when things don’t go perfect. To hold myself accountable, I recently started a HealthyWage challenge of losing one pound a week for six months. If I’m successful, I’ll not only lose weight but earn some extra cash.
9. You haven’t identified your why. We often make resolutions because it’s January. That’s not a great reason. For me, I’m not happy with my appearance. I’m single. If someday in the future I want to take my clothes off in front of another consenting adult, I have a lot of work to do. Currently, they would need to be blindfolded, and have the lights off. I also want to be around for my great-nieces and nephews.
10. You’re not making your health a priority. This is me. It sounds so “DUH” but if I don’t keep my health, and my goals and my strategies front and center, I forget them and find myself doing all the things I KNOW will lead to more weight gain, and at best keep me at my current overweight self. If you’re saying, “I don’t have time” what you’re saying is it’s not a priority.

We find time to brush our teeth, feed our kids, wash our clothes, we need to make ourselves a priority.

Some tools to help you.

Don’t overthink it. You have things like reminders, tasks, stopwatches, to nudge you when you need it.

For tracking, I love cronometer. It’s cheaper than my fitnesspal, and I believe more accurate.

For tracking your progress, check out the Streaks app (on iOs) or the Habit Share App which is for both Ios and Android, and allows you to share your habits with an accountability partner.

Momentum Browser Plugin. https://momentumdash.com/ Keep your goals in front of you. Every time you open a new tab, your goal is in front of you. You can put in affirmations, link it to your Todoist account, and more. It even integrates with your Fitbit.

If you love challenges, I mentioned HealthyWage where you can pick your goal and time to achieve it. You pledge money to inspire you. If you don’t achieve your goal, you pay. If you do achieve your goal, you get your money and additional money. Who doesn’t want to lose weight and get paid?

If you want to challenge your friends there are tools like HealthyWage (although I’m not a fan of their lose 6% in 12 weeks types of setups as their 25% fee is a bit high for me). You can purchase my Weight Loss Competition Spreadsheet (similar to the biggest loser) for $10

Affirmations can help you rewire your brain and lose your negative attitude. I know it sounds “woo-woo” and I thought that for years. I now use them, and any time I start to fail, I always notice I’m not doing my affirmations. I love the Think Up App (both iOs and Android). You can try it for free.

If you need a “to do” list, I love todoist as you can have your todo list everywhere (phone, computer, tablet) and you can use it in your Gmail. Want to a reminder to email this person next week? It’s one click.

If your resolutions include anything about Money, I love YNAB (You Need A Budget)

In a nutshell:

Make Your Resolutions Work by:

Write down your goals

Break a large goal into smaller achievable parts

Track your progress daily

Make it public (if that works for you)

Create routines that support your goals

Be accountable

I'm looking forward to 2021 and I'm currently fired up and ready to go.

Want more resolution tips? See https://www.logicalloss.com/smart-resolutions-1/

Become a Logical Loser

Accountability partners at www.logicallosers.com

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Weight Loss Challenge Spreadsheet

Some of us are motivated by a little competition, or we dreamed of being on a tv show like the Biggest Loser, well now you can create your own weight loss challenge using the weight loss challenge spreadsheet. This spreadsheet has done all the math and shows the participant's weight loss as a percentage of their body weight. Play solo or teams, it all in the spreadsheet.

Go to weightlosschallengesheet.com You lose the weight, we do the math.