If not, it is not too late to hop back onto the journey to wellness.

Colleen Peace, owner of the Wellness Project in Fort Dodge said it all starts with pinpointing what it is you want to change and setting those goals in order to do so.

“The top four goals every New Year is to lose weight, eat better, go to the gym and stop smoking,” Peace said. “A lot of the things I talk to the members about and this is for women, men, anybody — is we try to focus on so many things and it’s too many things.”

Peace’s advice to those that have multiple things they would like to change about themselves? To pick one and stick with it, if not, you could be setting yourself up for failure.

-Messenger photo by Kriss Nelson Colleen Peace shows variations of how to do a plank. Plank exercises can be done to help strengthen your core and is also beneficial to your arms, neck and shoulders.

“We can fail within our goal setting when we have a list of every single thing I want to change in my life like quitting smoking and going on a super hard core diet at the same time. Those are just two really hard things to do. Pick what is most important,” she said.

Slow and steady wins the race

Peace said it is best to make those goals and achieve them through steady progress and realize there is no magic trick.

“There are no quick fixes,” she said. “Realize when you make those goals, regardless of what they are, financial, faith, fitness or family related, the very first step is realizing that it isn’t easy and it isn’t going to be fast.”

Aligning your goal

Peace recommends finding the reason why you want to change something.

And it doesn’t have to necessarily be because it is something you think you should do.

“We have those external things and people telling us what we should do, so we base goals based on pleasing people and fail because it doesn’t align with what we actually want for ourselves,” she said.

It is important to make sure your goal is something significant and meaningful later on.

“If I think I want to lose weight, I am going to identify why,” she said. “Is it because I don’t want to be self-conscience in the summer in my swimsuit? Or because I want to be able to chase my kids around, or it could purely be because I want to look good.”

When it comes to setting a goal, Peace said it is helpful to also be really specific with the steps you are going to take to make it or it could be really easy to fail.

You also need to make sure those goals are obtainable, Peace advised.

“Say you want to lose 20 pounds by the end of the month. That is not obtainable. You could be setting yourself up for failure,” she said.

Motivation

“When we set New Year Resolution goals, a lot of the time we are really amped up, super motivated, super excited then February comes, we’ve been working on it, it’s boring, it’s not fun, it’s not easy and it is taking forever, then we quit,” said Peace.

In order to avoid this from happening, try to identify the things that motivate you. Things like goal setting or working with a partner.

“What are the motivating factors? Have you been embarrassed before about your weight? Or is it something that you want to be able to compete in a marathon? Just have a reason, a very specific why you want to do something,” she said.

What first motivated you may disappear.

“Just make sure in your mind you know that motivation is going to fade,” she said. “Motivation is a real thing, but motivation is going to go away, but what will stick with you are those good habits. It’s those good habits that are what is going to help you stick to those goals.”

Reevaluate the goal

Peace said if you lose that motivation and things aren’t going the way you planned, reevaluate the goal – and maybe let it go.

“Some of the people that come in and set a goal end up beating it to death, to the point they don’t even want it and can’t say why they need it, but yet they don’t want to fail,” she said. “It’s ok to abandon ship if you need to start over and reevaluate your goal. If you don’t make it losing the weight, but inches or it could be a fitness goal.”

Don’t beat yourself up

“One of the biggest reasons people fail is because they miss a meal or a workout and they think it is the end all and that rolls into a spiral and they just decide they just as well eat whatever,” said Peace.

However, as much as you don’t want to beat yourself up because you didn’t accomplish a daily goal; for example, be sure not to let yourself off too easy.

“There is a fine line between letting yourself off too easy and then also beating yourself up,” she said. “Giving yourself a little bit of grace, saying it is not going to be perfect. Don’t have these unrealistic expectations of perfection.”

Peace said oftentimes when she is helping people with weight loss goals, she will put in their plans to take one day a week or weekend night and have whatever they want.

“Having those things that give you some grace, some space and some time to just reset and not be 100% of the time all the time – give yourself that credit for what you are doing,” she said.

Fitness

Whether you choose to accomplish your fitness goals at home or at a gym – the possibilities are endless.

Peace recommends whatever you do – to start slowly and increase your workouts from there.

“It could be going around the block week one. Then week two try making it a block and a half. Or maybe it’s getting up and down the stairs or being able to do some body weight movements – do 20 squats and maybe in three weeks I am going to do more squats and add pushups,” she said. “Just start slowly adding things in. Your body is slowly getting used to stuff and it is going to get easier and easier.”

Feel like you don’t have time to dedicate to a workout? Your fitness routine doesn’t have to be done at all at once, at the same time.

“Try breaking it up throughout the day. That helps you. It helps boost your metabolism,” she said. “Every hour when you start to slow down, get up – do your squats or go for a walk. You have to get out of the mindset of doing it all at once. Try five minutes, 10 minutes at a time and it doesn’t have to be anything really hard.”

If you are at home, anything can become a weight to use, Peace said, from wine bottles to gallons of milk. Or even a deck of cards.

“Cards of death – it sounds awful but it’s not,” said Peace.

For this workout routine, Peace said to take a deck of cards. Give each suit a different exercise. For example: clubs can be squats; diamonds can be lunges; hearts can be mountain climbers; spades can be pushups. Draw a card from the deck and perform that number of the exercise.

Peace suggests starting with a few cards and eventually working your way up to doing the entire deck.

The internet is full of ideas as well she said.

If you decide to join a gym, Peace said to do your homework. Talk to the people that go to the gym and operate the gym to find out if it is ideal for you to help accomplish your goals.

“Get to the point where you feel good about you,” she said.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

• Daily Newsletter
• Breaking News
• Obituaries

Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

• Yes
• No