New Year’s Resolutions – Tips For Sticking To A Healthier Lifestyle

This post has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are ours alone. #SamsClubMag #CollectiveBias

Resolutions; do you have them? We do! The first of the year is a great time to evaluate your life and set new goals. There is just something about that new calendar that gives us a little extra boost of motivation, don’t you agree? This year, we thought it would be fun to revisit some of our old resolutions, that turned into new habits, and share our tips with you for making those resolutions a reality!

We’re going to start with the most popular resolution of all: living a healthier lifestyle and losing weight. Instead of giving you the traditional how to lose weight and feel great post, we’re going to share tips for staying on track with meeting the goals you set for yourself!

1. Start with a health screening. It’s important to evaluate where you are health wise before you go making a goal to drop those unwanted pounds. A health assessment can tell you whether or not you even need to lose “x” amount of weight. Maybe you have an underlying medical condition, such as high blood pressure, that could be treated with a special diet. By starting with a general health screening, you will have a great starting point for setting your goals. You can schedule an appointment for your annual physical with your physician, or pop in for a wellness screening at your local pharmacy, such as Sam’s Club Pharmacy, where as a member, health screenings are free!!

2. Start small. Don’t go setting an unreachable goal. If you’re not working out at all at the moment, don’t jump into a five day-a-week program. Start slowly with two, fifteen minute workouts a week and work your way up. As you become more set in a routine and more physically fit you can add a day and increase the duration of your workout. Take baby steps. The same goes for the nutrition side of a healthy lifestyle; don’t think you’re going to revamp you entire diet in a day. Start with an attainable goal, like switching to drinking water instead of sugary drinks or adding a fruit and vegetable to every meal! As you start making small changes that you feel great about, start to work on your next change, and continue until those small changes become habits!

3. Find a one stop shop. When you make grabbing all of your health and wellness essentials easy, you’re more likely to stay on track with your goals. Brooke has been a Sam’s Club member for the past five years and swears by her weekly shopping trips there. You can grab all of your fresh/frozen produce and meal essentials in bulk! When you shop in bulk, there are tons of ways to save money. Don’t let the mass quantities overwhelm you; just take out what you need for that week and freeze or store the rest! Having a fully stocked kitchen makes meal time easier. While you shop for your meals, you can also pick up your prescriptions, vitamins and other nutritional supplements from Sam’s Club’s Pharmacy section. There is also a great selection of health books and fitness equipment at awesome prices!

4. Find new recipes and snacks you love. Like this better version of your morning coffee from Healthy Living Made Simple Magazine. (#SamsClubMag) You can also pull up Pinterest and search for healthy renditions of your favorite recipes. There is a good chance a blogger or two has remade just about any dish in a lighter style. To keep the pitfalls of extreme hunger at bay, we recommend putting together a healthy snack center either at eye level in your fridge or on your kitchen counter. Items to include in your snack center would be fresh fruit, raw veggies, portioned bags of nuts (so you don’t overeat) or your favorite granola bars. Remember with pre-packaged snacks, make sure to keep the ingredient list simple. Sam’s Club has a great selection of granola bars and protein bars in their pharmacy that we love to keep in our snack centers!

5. Don’t let little slips discourage you. If you have a bad week, bad day or bad month; so what?! Just brush yourself off and try again. Remember, making a lifestyle change is big, bigger than just a New Year’s resolution. It may take years to be where you really want to be, but if this time next year you can look back and identify positive changes you were able to make over the last year, you’re heading in the right direction!

For more great tips and recipes, visit Healthy Living Magazine online.

Happy New Year!

– Brooke, Erica & Dr. V