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January 1, 2023 By GOQii 1 Comment

How To Stick To Your New Year Resolutions!

A new year has begun and with it, its once again time to make new resolutions. We’re sure a lot of you have already penned down your new year resolutions but what are these new year resolutions? More often than not, it’s a promise that we make to ourselves or with our near and dear ones to kick one bad habit and imbibe a good change for a better future.

New Year Resolutions Could Be:

Weight loss
Get fit and regular exercise
Eating healthy
Joining yoga class
Giving up smoking
Quitting excessive alcohol consumption
Playing a sport

Largely, I have noticed that most resolutions are around health and lifestyle. What is difficult though is to stick to the resolution made. It’s not easy to keep the enthusiasm going week after week. Especially when you have never played a sport or been active in the past. It’s not easy to maintain the same motivation levels throughout the year. Discipline is hard to come by. Most people don’t feel motivated enough and they give up within few days. It takes focus, planning and determination to stick to resolutions made. It takes the same amount of time to change a particular habit.

Tips To Stick To Your New Year Resolutions

Golden Rule: Make your goal achievable and do not aim for goals which are too difficult to achieve

Once you have decided on your achievable resolution, write it down. Writing it down makes a greater connection between your thinking self and doing self. This makes the resolution more real than it is only in your head.
Change one behaviour at a time. Replacing unhealthy behaviours with healthier ones requires time.
Fitness cannot be your short-term goal.
If you want to eat junk food, think what are the benefits you will derive from it. It’s the same as thinking before making any financial investments. Occasionally you can include a piece of Pizza or a burger but not daily.
If you are looking to reduce 20kg then achieve the target by reducing 2-3kg a month. It is not practical to lose 20kg in 2 months because it took years to accumulate all that fat and it will only go away slowly.
If you want to quit smoking and you are smoking 20 sticks a day, then reduce it gradually. You cannot stop immediately because it will take some time for your body and mind to adapt to the change.
If you intend to start working out, yoga or any other activity in the morning then begin with 3 days a week instead of 7 days a week.
For working out, most have the issue of waking up early. Try to start at a time comfortable to you. If you wake up daily at 8am but plan to start working out at 5am then it will seldom happen because your circadian system will take time to adjust. Instead try to wake up at 7 am which is practical and you will continue for a long time.
Be positive while thinking about your achievable goal. Instead of saying I cannot do something, say I feel much better doing this.
Always tell your near and dear ones about your resolution and seek their support in order to successfully achieve your goal.
Review your progress and reward yourself on the first target achieved

Lastly, we would say do not wait for anything. Every day is a new day. Start working on your resolution immediately. There is the famous saying, “Whatever you want to do tomorrow, do it today and whatever you want to do today, do it now!”

Go right ahead and work on your New Year Resolutions. If you have already penned them down and want the right guidance and motivation, reach out to an expert by subscribing to GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce of 2023!

December 29, 2022 By Arooshi Garg 3 Comments

10 Resolutions You Can Make In 2023 For A Healthier YOU!

It’s that time of the year when most people start to ponder over their New Year resolutions. Every year, millions of people make New Year resolutions but 80% fail to keep them going through the year. It’s hard to keep up the enthusiasm going month after month after you’ve set goals for yourself, but it’s definitely not impossible. Most of us strive for unrealistic goals that are difficult to accomplish after a while. This year, let’s be different! Pick one of the following worthy resolutions, and do your best to stick to it.

Top 10 New Year Resolutions For A Healthy You

Eat breakfast: A healthy breakfast refuels the body after a whole 10-12 hours of previous night’s dinner and gets the metabolism going. It helps one concentrate better throughout the day and increase productivity.
Stress Less: Stress on a daily basis takes a toll on physical and mental health. No matter what the job is, day to day affairs can lead to a lot of stress. Pent up emotions can not only create feelings of distress and promote destructive behavior. So make a New Year resolution to de-stress yourself by getting adequate sleep, exercising, meditating and following your hobbies.
Improve posture at work: Prolonged use of the computer, sitting at one place for hours together can cause muscle aches and discomfort. This routine on a daily basis, through years of work, can lead to permanent damage. Follow these steps to correct your posture at work. Don’t forget to take a break, or several one or two minute breaks every 20-30 minutes, and a five minute break every hour. This will ensure that you do not strain your muscles.
Get an annual health check up: Scheduling an annual routine check up for all your family members is a thoughtful New Year gift. Discuss your general health related queries and need for undergoing some preventive screening tests.
Get adequate and good quality sleep: I know it is difficult to keep your hands off your mobile devices at night but believe me, late night usage of gadgets is one of the main reasons for low quality and inadequate sleep. Make a New Year resolution to keep all electronic devices out of the room and pledge to sleep soundly for 7 hours at least.
Practice mindful eating: Don’t make your body a garbage bin. Every time you put food in your mouth, ask yourself – “Is this healthy?” Mindless eating can lead to a lot of calorie consumption and can add up to an extra of 600 calories daily to your diet. The next time you are tempted by a dish, when you are not actually hungry, have a list of other healthy/nutritious substitutes to try instead. Divert yourself by drinking a green tea, taking a stroll, have a quick chat with a co-worker, or simply drink a glass of water!
Avoid crash diets: Diets that promote large amounts of protein and fat, like low carb diets, might help you lose weight but the effects of these are short term. Finally, NO pain – NO gain is an ideal weight/fat loss plan which must include regular exercise in addition to a wholesome diet. Remember no crash diet can be substitute for a healthy diet.
Cut back on carbonated beverages: Believe it or not, consumption of fizzy carbonated drinks is on a fall in the United States and surprisingly on the rise in the Middle East and Asia. It’s an alarming call for us to re-write our habits. Ditch the carbonated drinks this year and replace them with healthier options like fresh lime water, coconut water, chamomile tea, green tea and of course our desi Shikanji! Water is your best bet on any given day. For a little change, add up just enough juice to change the color along with an orange or a lime!
Practice Deep Breathing everyday: After a tiring day, do you prefer lying on the couch and watching TV? But for good relaxation, what you need is a mentally active process which leaves the body calm and focused. Deep breathing is free and can be practiced anywhere. The key of course is focused breathing. Just 5-10 minutes of your day for deep breathing will reduce anxiety and reduce stress. Deep breathing increases the supply of blood to your brain and releases relaxing hormones, which promotes a state of calmness.
Exercise Regularly: The New Year is an amazing time to kick-start a new fitness plan – so as long as you create one you can stick with, you’ll be fine! Here’s how you can build a good workout plan. If you need guidance and motivation, subscribe for a GOQii PRO class within the GOQii App – where you’ll be guided by experts in real-time.

We hope these New Year resolutions help you get healthier! Do let us know which resolutions you’ve planned for 2023 in the comments below.

#BeTheForce

December 28, 2022 By Jigna Sheth 1 Comment

6 Tips to Help You Form and Stick to Resolutions

How often do we wait till the end of the year to make “resolutions” and end up not sticking to them? If you were to review your year basis the resolutions you made at the start, how close are you to achieving that goal? Do you find it difficult to form and stick to resolutions? Well, don’t worry! That’s where we come in.

A lot of resolutions fail because they’re a tad bit unrealistic. A resolution may be wrong for one of three main reasons:

It’s a resolution created based on what someone else (or society) is telling you to change.
It’s too vague.
You don’t have a realistic plan for achieving your resolution.

The key to form and stick to resolutions is planning a SMART one.

Points to Keep in Mind to Form & Stick to Resolutions

Understanding Your Goals: At the end of the year, there is renewed optimism as there is high spirit among people to set new goals for the New Year. The achievable goals are those which are specific, measurable, relevant and time-bound (SMART). The first step to behavior change is to clearly understand what “it” is.
Start Small: To do “something big or to do nothing” – this frame of mind rarely works when it comes to New Year’s resolutions. If you’ve never exercised before, it’s unlikely you will suddenly start working out for an hour every single day. Instead, start with small and attainable goals, such as going to the gym three days a week or short daily walks. Once this becomes a habit, you can tack-on larger goals.
Make One Change at a Time: Setting multiple resolutions at a time will not give desired results, thus we should go at a steady pace.
Make a Monetary Commitment: Financial incentives plays an important role to stick to the resolutions, either you get a reward for fulfilling your commitments or you pay from your own pocket for not following it and see others enjoying their rewards.
Keep a Log: A daily activity log should be maintained and updated to track progress. This is one of the easiest and effective ways to make your resolutions stick. The more we monitor our performance, the more likely we are to achieving the goals.
Have Patience: We must set realistic goals and realize that progress is never uni-directional. Some people see rapid gains in the beginning and hit resistance at a later stage. For others, initial progress may be painfully slow, but then they suddenly achieve rapid breakthroughs. Making lasting changes takes time. Thus patience is the “key to success”.

A Resolution is a promise a person makes. Regardless of what resolution you commit to, the goal is to improve life in the coming year. We hope the above suggestions help you form and stick to resolutions! To help you stay motivated and on track with the right guidance from certified experts, subscribe to GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce

January 1, 2019 By Arooshi Garg Leave a Comment

My unusual Resolution list for 2019- and it doesn’t include Exercising!

New Year Resolution

The New Year has set in. And, the common notion post-partying and excess food consumption are to turn healthy, mindful and start exercising from the next year. Right! Isn’t it?

And the best part about New Year resolutions is that they hardly move beyond the first week of the year! So how about something different this year?

Here I am to turn your attention to other things apart from food and exercising and suggest you some resolutions which will definitely help you be more peaceful, more mindful and most importantly will remind you to love yourself next year!

De-clutter

This one tops my list in this blog. Minimize the stuff that you need on a daily basis. Some of you might have heard about the ‘Swedish Death cleaning’ trend and believe me its effective! The purpose is to remove the excess stuff that you own especially meaningless clutter that we have collected our entire lives. Having less and only useful stuff basically gives you more time as that means less stuff to organize and take care of. It makes your mind clear and is soothing to your mind and eye. Start off with simple things like clearing out one kitchen cabinet or one study drawer at a time. Probably remove any stuff that you haven’t used in the past year! Remember decluttering is different from organizing. It actually needs you to totally remove that stuff from your home/office. Down the unnecessary stuff!

Turn off your smartphone

Another big step! haha! Yes, do give it a try. Our lives are revolving around this tiny gadget but making a huge impact on our socializing behaviour. Try and switch your smartphone off a bit more. Try to call up your friend to wish on a birthday rather than Facebooking them. Try to make small slots wherein you would not use your phone. Say post-dinner till you sleep. Or it could be as simple as not looking at the phone for 2 hours post you wake up and instead devote that time to actually read the newspaper (rather than reading news on the phone) and have breakfast with your family. This simple habit could actually make you feel very less stressed every day!

Grow something to EAT

Yes, I rediscovered this passion last year and I thought of sharing my joy with you all. I taught my 4-year-old daughter to simply bury seeds any fruit that she eats. And she learnt very quickly. Now, we have 2 big guava plants, 5 Jamun (Indian Blackberry) plants and 2 orange plants in our balcony who made it to this year! We are waiting eagerly for them to start bearing fruits now. The happiness and content of seeing a bud push out of the earth is the best feeling and connects us back to the earth and our traditions. So why not try this and give back mother earth some of its goodness.

Meet more People

When was the last time you visited an elderly relative?? Or a friend? I aim at spending at least 1 weekend every month to visit people whom I haven’t met in a long time. Being social is human nature and it’s been long that we have been missing on this innate nature and relying more on online ways to know more about people surrounding us. Let’s get back to the basics then this year and spread the laughter, joy and happiness of life!

Donate:

We all have things that no longer fit or we just don’t wear. This stuff is meaningless to us but will make a big change in someone else’s life. It could be anything from clothes to utensils to toys! There are many charity organizations and old age homes/ orphanages who accept used or unused clothes stationary, food supplies. By donating you also help recycle which prevents some other unnecessary item from being produced, saving the resources and energy for something more useful. Giving is good for our health. Research has found generosity to be linked with better health and mental peace!

So this is a gist of my New Year resolution list and I hope some of these will top in your list too! Share your views in the comments section.