MyNetDiary Blog

Don’t Let Your Resolutions Slip Away and Save Money While You’re At It

It’s about this time every year that those beautifully-crafted, well-thought-out resolutions we made back on New Year’s Eve begin to slip and fade into the background. In fact, most experts say that roughly 78% of those who make resolutions fail to keep them, but that doesn’t have to be you.

Sometimes our resolutions fall by the wayside because they are just too big or we’ve created too many of them. Experts say that to increase the chance of success, just pick one resolution and then break it into many smaller goals. We can often trip ourselves up if we focus too heavily on the downside of not achieving our end goal, so by being successful at smaller ones we’re more likely to continue working toward our big one. Researchers have found that if people do the following five things when working on a resolution, there chance of success increases to 50%.

The five keys to improving chances of success are:
1. Break your goal into smaller steps
2. Reward yourself when you achieve one of your small steps
3. Tell your friends about your goals
4. Focus on the benefits of success
5. Keep a diary of your progress (MyNetDiary can help with this one!)

So how many of you went out and joined a gym at the beginning of January? There were lots of special deals going then to get people to sign up. But joining a gym is a big commitment. Did you have a plan in place for what your workout routine would be, which classes you were going to take, for how long and at what time you would be at the gym each day? To some it may be overwhelming to be part of a gym and have too many choices for how to exercise. So here’s an idea for breaking your resolution (and workouts) into smaller, more manageable pieces and saving money while you’re at it.

The rising popularity of “daily deal” services can benefit those who are working to lose weight, be healthier and increase their exercise time. Instead of being committed to a gym, perhaps taking a variety of select fitness classes can help you stay committed to being active, while also providing a freshness to your workouts and letting you sample multiple class styles so you can find which one(s) you like the best.

For instance, most of these new “daily deal” sites feature discounted punch cards for yoga classes, Pilates, spinning, cross-fit, bootcamps, etc. If you buy a punch card and you know you only have to take six or so classes, you may be more inclined to make room in your schedule to take all of them, thereby maximizing your investment. Additionally, since you’re saving about 50%-90% off the costs of the classes, you’ll have more room in your budget to try different ones.

And in keeping with the strategy of rewarding yourself for completing the small steps toward your resolution, most of these “daily deal” sites also feature deals for massages, fine dining, wine tastings, weekend getaways, etc. Who wouldn’t like a full-body massage as a reward for losing 5, 10 or 20 pounds?

Here’s a rundown of some of the more popular “daily deal” sites:

Groupon
Available in many states and cities, Groupon offers its subscribers the ability to customize the types of deals they’re shown, choosing among specific categories in Health and Beauty, Food and Drink, Retail and Services, Activities and Events. Groupon will also let you track specific businesses, alerting you when a deal for one of your favorite local hang-outs comes up.

LivingSocial
Most notably recognized for its recent Amazon.com deal of paying $10 for a $20 Amazon Gift Card (they sold over one million!), LivingSocial is present many cities across the U.S. and even offers a “Family Edition,” with deals aimed at those with kids. Plus, they offer a promotion for when you buy a deal and then you get three of your friends to buy the same deal, yours is free. Why not have your friends join you for a night-out in celebration of achieving one of your milestones?

Seize the Deal
Though not as widespread as Groupon or LivingSocial, Seize the Deal seems to thrive in smaller towns and cities across the U.S. (where the “daily deal” giants are not), and the site often features great deals for non-corporate businesses at smaller dollar amounts. Seize the Deal is continuing to grow, and it may be in your neighborhood before you know it. They also let you suggest a business if it’s not already featured.

Plan to Succeed and the Skills Will Follow

Trying to lose weight without a plan in place is kind of like driving to your favorite restaurant with your eyes closed - you think you know the way, you’re excited to get there, but a lot of things can come between you and your destination.

Most people who are successful in achieving their weight loss goals set out with a definite plan - “I want to lose X pounds by this date,” or perhaps they set a weight loss rate or goal for exercising a certain number of minutes per week. The important part was that they had a plan in place. Additionally, new studies are now showing that creating and sticking to a weight loss plan also builds valuable life skills which extend beyond the pursuit of slimming down.

The first step in creating a plan is identifying and addressing your potential barriers. Do you lack specific fitness or nutrition knowledge? Do you struggle finishing tasks in which you feel alone? Do you suffer from low self-confidence and need support from others? Whatever your barriers may be, find the solutions before moving on.

Every goal needs a finish line, and great goals have little checkpoints along the way. While your goal might be to get back to your high school weight before your wedding day, you can still set mini-goals along the way - such as lose five percent of your body weight in a certain number of weeks, or fit into a specific size pants by the next holiday. By breaking up your journey, it won’t seem as long.

Add fitness goals to your weight loss goals. Your plan should be comprehensive; don’t make it all about the numbers on the scale. Set fitness goals, such as taking the stairs at work every other day, or walking during lunch twice a week or completing a 5K next month. The American College of Sports Medicine says it takes four to six weeks of committing to an exercise program to experience significant improvements in fitness, so be patient. Losing weight and getting healthy require lifestyle changes, so plan for your entire day - not just the eating part of it.

In a recent issue of BioPsychoSocial Medicine, those who developed the skills to self-regulate (both food intake and exercise) were the most successful in losing weight. So by setting a plan and sticking to it, people learn to self-regulate and improve their self-efficacy, and then the weight comes off. It’s a symbiotic relationship. And as a bonus, self-efficacy is a skill that improves self-confidence, allowing you to overcome peer pressures or feelings of negativity.

So what’s your plan? Share with us and others what keeps you on the road to success.

Resources for Improving Fitness/Nutrition Knowledge:

Weight Loss with MyNetDiary
Food Diary and Diet Articles by Katherine Isacks, MPS, RD