Small Ways To Make Big Changes
New Years resolutions are good in theory but trying to create a whole new you all at once can be overwhelming and frankly too hard to maintain. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t make changes to your life to lose weight, get healthier or become happier. In fact with just a few small changes, your life by the end of 2011 could be much better than it is today.
Here are our tips for the New Year, new you the easy way.
1. You don’t have to go on a radical diet and extreme exercise plan to lose weight.
In fact it is more likely that you will fail if you try such an extreme measures and it also makes you less fun to be around! And lets face it, when it is grey and cold outside – who wants to eat salad and run around the park. Be realistic and make a series of small changes that will see you drop pounds in the long run. By burning an extra 1,600 calories a month, or dropping them from your diet, you can lose 5 lbs in a year – that is only 50 calories a day! Cut that evening glass of wine – you have saved 125 calories. Get off the bus 10 minutes earlier and that is 50 calories and ditch the afternoon crisps and save 181 calories. Small changes can make all the difference. Why not also try walking up escalators, cutting the boredom snacks and enjoying tasty food that is less likely to have you craving something naughty!
2. Watch the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves
Every penny counts at the moment with the tax rises and the country still in the grips of a recession so make sure that you are not spending more than you have to on your mortgage, bills and grocery shopping. Small savings can equal big changes over a year. Money expert Martin Lewis has some great tips on how to cut your bills at his website Moneysavingexpert.com. By changing your service providers and shopping around, you can create more disposable income or cut your debt.
3. Don’t worry, be happy!
Happiness is the holy grail for most people but it has been shown that money, fame and a great wardrobe don’t necessarily makes us happy. While relationships – with friends, family and partners – do help to make us happy the largest barrier to happiness in ourselves. Often we just get stuck in a pessimistic mind set. My mother always had the best advice for getting out of a negative mindset. ‘Fake it till you make it’ was her advice and believe it or not it works – and not just for happiness. Smile and act happy and soon your body and mind changes its pattern and you will feel happy. Act confidently even if you are not feeling and soon people will treat you as confident, not long after you will feel confident. The mind creates positive loops so that initially you might feel it is fake but over time the feelings become real.
So throw out those unrealistic resolutions with those afternoon snacks and enjoy 2011!
