happynewyear

Odds are that you indulged a little too much over Christmas and your New Years resolution is to lose some of that weight and to start being healthier in 2014, but sticking to that resolution past February is the hardest part.

"A lot of people who make a New Years resolution on January 1st about half of them are actually sticking to it by February 1st. So those fad diets, those quick promises to lose weight and get in shape often make us drop 10 pounds and then gain 20 back," said Lryis Capelle, Ability Management Coordinator for the Cypress Health Region.

Capelle reminds about the SMART goal acronym that could help you with your goals.

S - Specific
M - Measure able
A - Achieveable
R - Realistic
T - Time line

"So instead of saying "I wanna lose weight!", your goals need to be more specific. Make them measure able, weigh yourself once a week, it should be achievable, realistic and just have some time linesaround it so you're not setting yourself up for failure. So instead of saying "I wanna drop 30 pounds a month!", but maybe one pound a week might be more realistic and then have those time lines around it," said Capelle.

She also suggests that instead of biting off more than you can chew with two hour workouts once a week try 15 or 20 minutes four or five times a week to develop a routine you can stick with well into the new year.

"Walking the dog, it might be a noon hour workout, or something like that where you can fit it into your day just like brushing your teeth. You wouldn't go a day without brushing your teeth. Same thing with exercise and eating right you just make it part of your day," said Capelle.

She also suggests joining the 2014 Wellness Challenge, where there are prizes for eating healthy and in a team environment you can get competitive and succeed with your New Years resolution.

Register a Team from your workplace, organization, or club: for more details you can email Val Choo-Foo at v.choofoo@swiftcurrent.cawith your team name, organization, number of participants and the name of the team captain. 

Swift Current's Wellness Challenge 2014 is starting on January 13th hroughto February 23rd, 2014.  They are accepting Registrations from Jan. 08-15th, 2014.