8 steps to achieving your lifestyle goals on the mainline this year

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If your New Year’s resolutions include lifestyle changes, follow these tips from the Main Line pros to achieve those goals.

So, on January 1, you promise yourself to eat a healthy diet and go to the gym more often. How was that? Now that we’re in the new year, have you kept up with your resolutions?

Whether you need a little motivation to keep going or a nudge to get back at it, the health and wellness experts at Main Line share their advice for sticking to these resolutions.

Learn the steps you need to take to achieve your goal.

Coach Maria Rossi and former Best of the Main Line and Western Suburbs winner encourages her clients to write down a long-term goal, even if it seems out of reach in the moment. “In most cases, this is the North Star,” she explains. “It is the big dream that acts as a compass to determine our path. And this path will be filled with smaller, medium and achievable goals.” Recognizing what needs to be done to stick to this final decision is key. Celebrate these small successes, and you will find that a goal that seemed so elusive may not be so out of reach after all.

Make sure your goal is about you and you alone.

If your decision has to do with improving the way others see you in some way, then you are not participating in it for the right reasons. “When people set goals based on pleasing others, the days of that goal are numbered,” says King of Borussia coach Antonio Davies. “Focus on accomplishing something that makes you feel happy and healthy.”

Write your weekly schedule in advance.

As a certified personal trainer and trainer at CycleBar Exton, Abbie Primus believes in writing your weekly schedule in advance. “When you write it down, you’re more likely to make it happen and plan your health as a priority,” she says. Lock off your calendar for tasks like preparing a nutritious meal or going to an exercise class, and treat this time like a business meeting you can’t cancel.

Be disciplined.

“We start the year excited and full of motivation,” says Rossi. “But when that drive goes away (as it probably will), the only way to stick to our plan is to be disciplined.” Rossi’s advice is to imagine the person you want to become. If you would like to be an individual who eats healthy foods and exercises daily, tell yourself that you see yourself that way. “Even if it is not the case now, this method engages the brain to create a clear view of how we want to see and feel ourselves in the near future.”

Take the time to support your decision.

Making a lifestyle change takes time, whether it’s time to prepare healthy meals or hit the gym. If you don’t cut the time, you won’t make it, warns registered dietitian and nutritionist Emily Murray. “Think about ways to multitask. Do some work on the treadmill. Try Instacart or other online food delivery systems to help with your shopping.”