When thinking of your goals for body change in the new year, it’s important to keep

perspective. Instead of looking to start the year with a bang, consider making key

changes that will take you down the path toward your goal. They don’t have to be huge, earth-shattering adjustments. Here are some quick tips to get you going:

• • Pick ONE thing: What is one thing you can change this week to improve your healthor physique? Is it drinking more water? Is it eating more veggies? Is it taking a dailywalk? Once you master that one thing and it has become more of a habit, then pickanother new one thing, and so forth. Our brains are really only meant to successfullyfocus on one change at a time. If you are looking for success, this step is key.

• • Expect to FAIL: As humans, we don’t like that word. But failure is key for learning. Asyou are working on your one thing, failures will happen. If you aren’t expecting themto happen, they can totally derail your success. Instead, expect that you will have towork late, so what is your plan B? Using those failures (actual or anticipated) to helpyou plan for the next time is what makes the difference between losing sight of yourgoals and continuing to move forward.

• • Find SUPPORT: Reach out to someone who has similar goals. Maybe you can walkwith a co-worker during lunch, or maybe you get pedi’s with a friend when you eachhave a week of drinking your water each day. Research shows that who we spendtime with actually impacts our health, mental stamina, and physique, so spend timewith people who are like-minded.

• • Give yourself the WIN: If you are making consistent effort to work on your one thing,dealing with and recovering from failures, and working with support, you have to giveyourself the WIN, even if it is taking longer than you want to reach your goals. Eachday means progress, and you can’t put a value on that. But you CAN give yourselfcredit, celebrate forward movement, and cut yourself some slack when things don’t goas planned.

More to come next month on how to accelerate your fat loss...with just changing how

you eat.

Julie Stubblefield is owner and operator of SparkFit, Mechanicsville’s premier fatloss facility. You can read more about her own personal challenges with physiqueand the body change community she is building at www.sparkfit.info. She can bereached at [email protected].