New Year's Goals

Happy New Year from the Advanced Footcare Clinic. We hope all our patients are as excited as we are to enter another year with hope and looking to the happiness which lies ahead. We want you to know that your over-all health and well being are important to us and factor into your footcare, just like good footcare factors into the rest of your life and health. Following this end, we want to help you succeed at your New Year's resolutions. Many of our resolutions have to do with making positive health and lifestyle changes. We want to encourage you to make those positive changes, and in this blog we want to give you some strategies to help you do so.

1. Write it down. Having your goals clearly defined and in plain view will help keep you mindful of them. Posting your goals is also a great tool as a motivator or a deterrent. For example, posting your weight loss goals on your mirror where you see them daily will encourage you, and placing them on your fridge will remind you of your goals and discourage extra snacking or unhealthy choices. Make sure your goals are clear. Do not simply make a goal to lose weight, but give yourself a deadline and a weight goal. Example: lose 15 pounds before our vacation during spring break on March 12th. This makes your goals clear and seemingly more attainable.

2. Surround yourself with help. Get a friend who is willing to check in with you every week on your progress, or post your goals where family and friends can see them. This will mean that they can hold you accountable to your goals and provide encouragement whenever you need it. You should also find support systems like online chats/blogs or other people around you with the same goals. You could recruit your usual group of smoke break friends to all quit together, or find another person at your fitness level to exercise with. This makes the process easier than doing it alone. Many people like to have a program light Weight Watchers which has public meetings and group encouragement.

3. Set attainable goals. If you set an unclear goal, you will most likely not meet it. Setting a goal which is clearly defined is a great way to know what you're shooting for, and how soon you want to achieve that goal. But making sure your goals are reasonable is an important element as well. You cannot lose 50 pounds in a month in any healthy fashion. And you are unlikely to quit smoking cold turkey or correct your finances in three days. You need to make sure you give yourself adequate time to accomplish your goals, otherwise you will simply get discouraged and quit all together. You can also think in terms of changing your lifestyle. Perhaps to lose weight you set a goal to only eat fast food once a week and to work out three times a week. Or to quit smoking you want to stop smoking in your car. These are small lifestyle changes that will help you reach your ultimate goal. Once you reach one small goal, you can add another. Eventually they will add up to your large, ultimate goal.

4. Mark your progress. Keep track of what you eat daily, make a weekly plan, and set "landmarks" while working to your goals. Keeping track of your progress will help you keep that excitement about a goal alive. When you first start a goal you will most likely be excited about your goals, but this will slowly fade as the work aspect of meeting goals comes in. Knowing what you have already accomplished is encouraging. When you can see the work in stages, you are more likely to meet your goals. If you want to write a novel, set a goal for 10 pages a week. Seeing your goal 10 pages at a time makes a mountain look more like a series of small hills. The goals may seem challenging, but they will not seem daunting or unattainable. Before you know it, 10 pages turns to 20, then 30, the 40...

5. Reward yourself. Set small landmark rewards which will encourage you to meet your goals. When you reach a certain point, give yourself a small gift or a day off from your goal. Promising yourself that gift ahead of time will also give you something to look forward to. Perhaps at the first 35 pounds of weight loss you will buy yourself a dress in your new size or go out to a nice dinner where you can enjoy delicious and healthy menu choices. At 50 pounds, consider getting out those clothes from the basement that were a few sizes too small. You may find that they fit and some of your favorites can return to your closet. What about the ones that are outdated or now too big for you? Give them to charity and feel even better about your weight loss- it has now benefited someone beside you. Perhaps a smoker would like to celebrate their new lung capacity by taking a hiking trip or spending a day screaming on roller coasters at Cedar Point. Rewarding yourself or coming up with a reward for someone you are encouraging can make the difference in their ability to achieve their goals.

6. Know yourself and fend off discouragement. You know yourself better than anyone. If a hard day at work makes you want to eat junk food, plan ahead for hard days at work. Buy some bath salts, a new movie, or a good book- whatever relaxes you. Look forward to spending your evening after a hard day with that activity. Try to avoid situations or people who encourage your bad behavior. Don't car pool with smokers when you are trying to quit. Perhaps a new car pool is a great way to meet some more people too. You also need to learn how to say "No", especially to yourself. Mark the times you have small victories in self control. Eventually the tally will begin to add up and you will see how good you really are at making the responsible decision.

7. Keep working. You will have bad days or relapses. This is part of making changes. But do not give up after a bad day. One piece of cake should not ruin a diet. It is barely even a minor set back. You may still be within your calorie intake for that day even with the cake. Do not give up. Work extra hard the next day. You can even use this relapse as further encouragement. Remind yourself the nest day that you just gave yourself a break and need to make today count. Do this the next day and the next and you will find yourself a week away from your relapse and still going strong. Remind yourself of your goals and your progress so far. It would be a shame to give up all that progress for one small step backwards. Keep things in perspective and keep working.

We would love to be part of your goals this New Year. If you are experiencing foot pain while working out, come and see us. We can find relief for you and get you back to your exercise program. We want to encourage you to live healthy lifestyles. Feel free to comment on our blogs. We would love to hear your goals, and your progress throughout the year. Success stories help to inspire us all. Best of luck in all your endeavours this new year!