People across the country have made goals for this new year, but sticking to them, especially when you have big aspirations, is hard. There are things you can do that will help you achieve them this year.
Jennifer Cargill, a local nurse practitioner at Lawton Community Health Center, who used to be a personal trainer, said you need to make sure your new year’s resolutions are realistic.
“You don’t want to set yourself up for failure,” Cargill said.
She said you should start by setting some short term goals that you can meet weekly to go along with your monthly and long term goals.
“If you’ve never exercised a day in your life and you want to get started, I tell patients, ‘ten minutes a day, three days a week’ and then slowly get up to what the American Heart Association says which is 30 minutes of cardiovascular activity at least five days a week,” she said. “That’s a total of 150 minutes a week.”
Cargill said planning ahead is important to stay on track.
“So whether that be meal prepping and getting your food ready for the next day,” Cargill said. “Set your time for your next day as when you’re going to work out. Ok, I have something going on after work, and so I’m going to get up 30 minutes earlier tomorrow morning to make sure I’m going to get my exercise in.”
While going to the gym can be intimidating, Cargill said don’t let that stop you from reaching your 2020 health goals.
“Everybody else is there to meet their own goals,” she said. “They’re not worried about what you’re doing. Get in there, get your workout done, and then you leave.”
But, if you’d rather workout at home, she said there are videos you can watch online that show workouts you can do at home. Cargill said you shouldn’t give up just because you missed a few days or weeks.
“Today is the day I got back on track,” Cargill said. “Everybody falls off the wagon sometimes. The main thing when it comes to falling off the wagon, whether it be for a week or a month, is there’s no better time to start than today and so you just have to set that date, get your mind right, do it.”
Now, before you start exercising for the first time this new year, Cargill said you should meet with your primary care provider first.