1. Attitude IS Everything

If you went into last year’s holiday season thinking you could eat like a wolverine and worry about it in January, well, how’s that working out? Swimsuit season is right around the corner. It is now time to get your mind right and realize you’re not as young as you used to be, it’s going to take effort to get the weight off and you need to put down the cheesecake and go for a walk.

2. Eat exactly what you need

You should aim for a comfortable feeling of satisfaction at every meal. You will be amazed at how quickly this becomes acceptable to your stomach. Besides, you can enjoy your meal and feel great afterwards too. This tip alone can save you hundreds of calories per meal. If you want to try all the courses, have smaller portions of everything you really want.

3. MOVE!

Give up the couch this summer and get out the spandex. If you really can’t get to the gym, do a few exercises at home or go for a walk. It won’t just burn calories; it will keep you in touch with your desire to get skinny and healthy. Also keep as active during the day as you can. You know the routine; use the steps, park farther away. No matter what you chose remember that a journey of thousand miles begins with the first step!

4. Trash Day

You just had to buy 6 family size bags of potato chips because you had a coupon right? Time to clean out the cabinets. This is the single best tip you can put into place today. Why? Let’s say you are watching reruns and you get the craving to eat the entire pint of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia, if you don’t have it in the house then you are less likely to get in the car and go get it.

5. Relax!

Stress makes us do crazy things to our bodies like smoking, drinking, and oh yes, eating. You have many reasons to reduce your stress levels as you do drinking your thousand-calorie Starbucks Frap.

If this describes your pattern of eating you are not alone. This is the single highest response given when asked why people eat the way they do, the nervous eater. If you can recognize it and at least alter the foods you are taking in, you can save yourself thousands of calories a week. So, no matter what you chose, just get out there and do it!

6. Share Your Success

This is a new year for you and a new year for TerminalObesity.com. Lets all share our weight loss successes through our photographs and stories. Losing and maintaining our weight is so much easier when we realize that we are not alone. Submit those photos and stories to Terry@TerminalObesity.com

What will it be this year? What are your goals? Are you going to lose that extra weight, quit smoking, be more active, pay off your credit cards, go back to school, or finally land that promotion? Maybe your resolutions are simple. Maybe you want to just spend more time with your family or get that garage cleaned out. Whatever resolution ideas you have, you will have a hard time accomplishing them if you don’t learn how to set realistic goals and initiate a game plan.

The problem with New Year’s resolutions is that they are often based on fantasy or are too complicated to achieve in a year’s time. The number of New Year’s resolutions that you make can also make it difficult to stay focused. While setting goals is vital for one’s improvement, having unrealistic goals or too many goals will only set you up for failure. So forget about losing weight, remodeling the house, going to school, and traveling to Spain this year. Choose instead one goal and work single-mindedly toward it. After all, a year is shorter than you may think.

When making your New Year’s resolution, remember to keep your goal realistic and specific. For example: Instead of saying, “I want to lose some weight this year,” say “I want to lose 20 pounds this year.” You also need to keep goals realistic or you will never be able to reach them and will only become discouraged. If doubling your business’ profit margin is unrealistic, why not set a goal of increasing profits by 20 percent?

Okay, so now that you’ve got your goal firmly in mind you need to learn how to work toward it. Since large goals can be overwhelming and hard to focus on divide your goal into smaller goals. For example: If your goal is to lose X amount of pounds, divide that amount by 12 to create smaller, monthly goals. Work hard each month toward each short-term goal. Monitor your progress weekly to ensure that you stay on the right track. Find motivation through a support group, a friend, or weight-loss publications. Set up a reward system for each milestone that you complete successfully and don’t look back. Before you know it, the year will be over and you will have realized your goal.