New year, new you!
This is it!
2024 is upon us, and you are setting those New Year's resolutions.
Most coaches roll their eyes to the idea of New Year goals. Individuals set big goals for their health and well-being, yet after a couple of weeks it's common to see them fall off and never come back around to them.
For me, I love New Year's resolutions!
I love seeing individuals set big goals for themselves.
Why?
It's amazing seeing all these people who want to better themselves. To see them have this motive to make a change for the better by becoming a healthier version of themselves.
Yes, I understand that not everyone sticks to their goals, but many people still do and make incredible changes for themselves. And in return, these incredible changes change their life forever!
So if starting January 1st is what allows you to take action on your health to change your habits and behaviors, then f*ck what everyone else says.
Why not you, too?
It's your time to be the 8% (more on this later).
I'm super excited and grateful that you are here reading this because this tells me you want to learn how to set and achieve your New Year's Resolutions. You want changes to happen in your life for the better.
You want to be better.
Now, make sure you read this entire blog so you can set yourself up for success this year to not only reach your goals but absolutely f*cking crush them!
And here is the deal:
Having goals is great.
But why most people fail is due to the lack of planning (more on this later).
They lack applying the actions that will actually get them towards their goals.
So, as you set the goal to lose 50, 75, or 100 pounds this year, you don't have a road map that you can follow to get you there.
What happens?
You're left ripping it up, going banana pants, and being inconsistent.
What I go over here is not only going to allow you to make progress but, more importantly, keep the progress you do make.
I'm going to go over and break down exactly how to set and achieve your New Year Resolutions this year.
Let's get into it!
1. What is Your Main Goal?
First, you need to figure out exactly what your goal is.
You may be thinking, I’m going to lose 100 lbs, run a marathon, and bench press 315 lbs.
All fantastic goals, but let’s slow down a little bit.
I want you to have these goals, but I also want you to figure out what is the most important, main goal you want to focus on this year.
Prioritize your #1 goal, and to start there. Focus on that. You can have other goals as well, but keep that as the priority with the other goals in mind.
When it comes down to it, you can stay consistent with the most important things that will allow you to reach that first goal.
2. Set Realistic Expectations
Be realistic with your expectations when it comes to achieving your goals.
When setting goals, we usually end up following them up with unrealistic expectations.
Let's say your goal is to lose 100 pounds this year. Fantastic!
But you also expect the scale to go down every single day (or even every single week).
The moment you see the scale not move, or it even goes up (this will happen, by the way), you think you failed or what you're doing isn't working, so you quit.
These expectations are exhausting to deal with. Constantly being down on yourself or frustrated all the time.
Here is the hard truth.
The scale is going to fluctuate. It's going to go up overnight for many reasons, none being you gaining fat.
Setting this type of expectation, knowing the scale fluctuates up and down, sets you up to know that it is completely normal and you didn’t f*ck anything up when it spikes up. You expected it to happen some days, and it happened, so good to go - just keep on keeping on!
Let’s say your goal is to build your bench press to 315 pounds.
Yes, you are aiming to increase your weight each week, but thinking that is actually going to happen is a false expectation.
If you add 5 lbs to your bench press each week, your bench press will increase by 260 pounds this year.
That is ridiculous.
If that were to happen, it wasn’t from drinking your milk with dinner each night.
I’ll ask you, “When did you start putting needles in your butt?”
Instead, you aim to try and progress in weights (or reps) each week, with the understanding that it's not going to happen each week or even every month. This expectation is setting yourself up for success. So when you have a workout, you didn't go up in weight, you realize that is ok because it aligns with your expectations, and you continue keeping on.
(When it comes to weight loss (since that’s why you're most likely here), here are the realistic expectations:
Losing .25-1 pound on average a week. Keywords “on average.”
So a month can looks like this:
Week 1: Down 2 lbs.
Week 2: No weight loss
Week 3: Up 1 lb.
Week 4: Down 3 lbs.
Weekly weight loss average: 1 lb per week.)
These are great, sustainable, and realistic expectations to make for yourself!
Now, on to one of, if not the most important thing for how to set and achieve your New Year Resolutions this year.
3. Have a Plan!!!
It's time to stop winging it.
Why?
Well, how has it worked out for you so far?
If you were to go on a road trip across the country, you would have a plan of where you are stopping, what hotels you are staying at, all the way down to what snacks you are bringing on the ride.
(Watermelon Sour Patch Kids for me.)
The same goes for your health and weight loss goal; Have a plan!
Now, earlier I talked about setting your goal.
So, let’s say your goal is to lose 50 lbs.
I love that.
But now, who gives a sh*t about it.
It's great that we have a target to shoot the arrow at, but we got to learn and practice how to use the bow and arrow.
Outcome goals give us our destination, but action-based goals give us the map so we know the direction to go in.
After you tell yourself you want to lose 50 lbs, think about how you are going to do that.
What actions are you going to take that will help you lose that 50 lbs?
This is your focus.
This is what I want to put your attention to.
Get detailed, too!
Let’s go over an example.
You: “I’m going to lose 50 lbs.”
Me: “Love that! How?”
You: “I’m going to start going to the gym and walking more.”
Me: “Amazing! How?
You: “I am going to follow one of KP Fit's amazing workout programs 3x a week. My plan is to go to the gym before work and make sure my gym bag and work bag is ready the night before so all i have to do is wake up and go.
For walking, I am going to take advantage of my 60 minute lunch break at work. I am going to eat for 30 minutes and then walk for the remaining 30 minutes. I am also going to walk to the farthest bathroom in the office just to sneak in a couple more steps throughout the day!”
Me:”I freaking love this!!!! Let’s go to work!”
Get specific with your plan!
You can always add more
Now, let’s go back to being realistic for a second.
If you are currently not working out at all, getting under 1,000 steps a day, and eating like the cookie monster right now, then trying to go 5 workouts a week, with 10,000 steps a day, and telling yourself you will never eat junk food again is going to be tough.
Going from 0 to 100 is not going to be realistic or sustainable.
My piece of advice is that you can always add more, but start small and build from there.
Instead, how about going from 0-20 first.
Go from 0 workouts to start with 1-2 workouts a week.
Go from 1,000 steps a day to 1,500 steps a day.
Go from eating nothing but cookies to adding a serving of protein and fruits or vegetables a day.
Do these little changes, and be consistent as F*CK with ‘em!
Aim to be 80% or more consistent with whatever actions you set for yourself each month.
Because here is the other thing: you are not perfect.
Perfection is overrated (I mean, god forbid you have a slice of pizza or a donut once in a while).
But be consistent! Aim to be 80+% consistent with these action-based goals.
This allows you to be still human. You will make mistakes and have some off moments and days, yet still be able to make fantastic results!
Side note: My favorite way to track consistency is to create a consistency calendar. This idea was created by a phenomenal coach and a huge mentor of mine, Jordan Syatt.
The idea is to get a calendar. I'm a big fan of going old school and printing one out, putting it in your fridge, and tracking how consistent you are actually being.
Every day you complete all your action-based goals, give yourself a check mark. Any day you miss them, give yourself an “x” or an “o.”
At the end of each month, see how consistent you truly are.
Ideally, you will hit 24+ days out of each month.
So remember this: small things lead to big, maintainable results! Focus on being consistent vs. being perfect.
4. The Magic of Accountability
Yes, I am a personal trainer.
Yes, I am a nutrition coach.
Yes, I once at a Vanilla Soft Served Ice Cream Cone in 11 seconds.
Oh, wait! Wrong blog...
But, yes, people hire me to help hold them accountable and guide them toward their weight loss and health goals, so of course, I am the basis here!
But that doesn't mean what I’m about to say isn't true.
There is a reason why many individuals are successful who hire a coach, have a workout buddy, or join a fitness community.
Because it holds them accountable, it helps them stay consistent.
The days you don’t feel like working out or making dinner, there ends up being this reminder that helps push you to do the things you know you should be doing (even when you don't want to. You know you have to report to or check in with someone holding you accountable, so you make sure you stay on track to do the right thing.
When you are being held accountable to someone besides just you, it is going to help a ton and increase your chances of success.
Because when you hold yourself accountable, no one will know if you skipped a workout or ate the entire carton of ice cream.
But when you have that accountability from a coach, it keeps you honest. It gives you the push to stay consistent so that you can get results!
Getting support and having someone on your team can make all the difference for you and your success.
It also just feels great having someone to ask questions to, to vent to, to strategize with, to give you a bit of tough love when needed, and to celebrate with when you reach incredible milestones.
As a coach, I’m not someone who is going to give you a fish; my goal is to teach you to fish so that one day, you can do it on your own.
It's funny; my terrible sales pitch every time I talk to a potential client is, “Listen, my goal for you is to help you reach your goals and build incredible habits over this next chunk of time, whether it be 1 year or 5 years. But after that, I never want to talk to or coach you again.”
Of course, I'm joking around and love keeping relationships with past clients, but the coaching part is true.
When finding accountability, it’s ok, it doesn't have to be me, but go find a friend, a coach, or a community who will invest and care about you and your goals just as much as you do!
(And, by the way, if you are interested in working together so you can have someone invested in your goals, support and guide you in a game plan, and help hold you accountable, click HERE to schedule a time for us to chat!)
Couple More Pointers and Tips:
Let’s chat about motivation.
I get it; taking action can be tough some days when you are lacking that internal drive and motivation.
Know this: that sort of high energy, high drive type of motivation where it feels effortless to get sh*t down is not something to rely on. It will come and go. So when you have it, awesome– use it to your advantage and crush it!
But when it’s not there, take action anyways.
Do you know how you don't want to go to work every day, yet you still do? You know you have a responsibility, and it's important for you to show up to get your work done so you please your boss and clients, yet also put food on your table and pay your bills.
Well, it's your responsibility to take care of your health.
It's important for YOU to reach these goals because it will help you (insert your why it's important for you to reach your goal).
Start finding a way, not an excuse.
What I love recommending on days where you really don't feel like doing anything is just do something!
Can't get in a 60-minute workout? Get a 30-minute workout.
Too tired to workout? Go on a 10 minute walk.
Can’t train 4 days this week? Train 2-3 days.
And here's the deals:
Action--> Results --> Motivation --> More Action --> More Results --> More Motivation --> Even More Action and so on...
You don't have to run a marathon or hit PRs in the gym that day, but go do something.
An imperfect something will always be better than a perfect nothing.
PS: Never underestimate external motivation. I love setting challenges for clients when they need to be more consistent with their workouts but have a hard time with motivation. Something like give yourself $10 every workout session, and after 10 workouts, go buy a new pair of shoes or take yourself out to a nice dinner.
Or, for myself, simply just blasting some music or a Tom Brady motivational video to get my blood flowing and fire me up.
Whatever it may be, find a way to take action even on the days you don't feel like it because action leads to results, and those results grow your motivation!
Make this Mindset Shift: Add vs. Subtract.
Every time you try to lose weight, you think:
No more carbs.
No more sugar.
No more junk food, and so on…
STOP MAKING THIS MISTAKE!
When you go into this weight loss phase, you always often think about everything you need to stop doing and start completely restricting yourself from.
Instead, focus on the things you can add in and the things you need to do more of.
When it comes to building a better relationship with food, the best thing you can do is give yourself permission to eat all the food.
Why? Because you can and should enjoy all foods. They all have a place in your life.
Food isn’t just fuel; it is celebration, memories, and happiness.
If you are demonizing food and trying to restrict yourself from it completely, what ends up happening?
You eat something on the list of foods you are demonizing, and now you feel like a failure. After feeling like you are a failure, you now say f*ck it and eat the entire carton or bag because you think you already screwed up, so you say, “What’s the point? I’ll start again on Monday.”
This cycle goes on and on and on.
Plus, when you say you can’t have a particular food, you are only going to think about that food more often.
It’s like this:
Don’t think about a white elephant…
I bet you're thinking about a white elephant.
Don’t think about a naked, hairy man on a unicycle juggling bowling balls.
Yep. You’re thinking about a naked, hairy man on a unicycle juggling bowling balls.
Take that unnecessary pressure off yourself.
Instead of thinking you must cut out certain foods or things during fat loss, think about what you need to ADD more of.
More fruits.
More protein.
More vegetables.
More water.
More fiber.
More walking.
More exercise.
What this will do is naturally lessen or subtract foods or habits without having to think about it.
And again, all you are doing is focusing on the things you will add in and prioritize first vs. starting to think about the foods you have to subtract and take out.
This creates more of a positive relationship with food and can help build healthy habits for you to stay consistent!
This Sh*It is FOREVER!
This whole taking care of your fitness and nutrition thing is not a 3, 6, or 12-month thing.
This sh*it is forever.
What I suggest is to stop trying to lose weight as fast as possible and start trying to lose weight as sustainably as possible with the goal of maintaining your results forever.
Make small changes and be consistent as f*ck with those small changes for years on end.
Once you buy into playing the long game and understand there is no end to taking care of your health (training, daily movement, nutrition, sleep, and stress), you start getting incredible results.
Start small.
Be consistent.
Be patient.
And become that ultimate badass I know you can be!
To wrap things up
I hope this blog really helped you learn how to set and achieve your New Year Resolutions this year.
I’ll finish with this.
Be the 8%!
“What are you talking about being the 8%, Kev?”
Here is the deal. About 8% of people who set goals during the New Year end up achieving goals.
Now, this is by no means to put you down.
You will be in that 8% this year!
Like I said at the beginning of this, a lot of coaches and other individuals get annoyed by people setting New Year's Resolutions. You may have seen some of them speak negatively about it, shoot them down, and tell you they are a waste of time.
Well, rather than looking at those odds and wondering, “What’s the point?” Understand this...
There are currently about 7.88 BILLION people in the world. Do you know what 8% of 7.5 Billion is... 630,400,000.
That’s still a f*ck ton of people.
So why can’t it be you?!
Take this advice and tips from this blog, and go attack the sh*t out of your goals!
You will be 1 out of that 630,400,000 people who all complete their goals come 2025!
Go be that 8%!
Love you, and Happy New Year!
-Kevin
As I Am
Again, if you want more guidance on your weight loss journey this year so you can have more support, someone to hold you accountable, and help you take all of the thinking out of it for you, click HERE to schedule a time for us to chat!
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