Its New Year’s Eve.

You have a pen, a sheet of paper and a blank stare on your face.

You’re thinking, “I do this every year. What makes this year different from the rest? I don’t even know where my other New Year’s resolution is right now?”

For most people, this is the scenario played out every year -

They want to lose weight, lower their cholesterol, their blood pressure, their risk for health related diseases….

They want to be FIT.

So what will you do this year that is different from the last.

Read on, and I will tell you EXACTLY what you should do and should not do. Goal setting is like an excel sheet when you are trying to create a business plan. YOU NEED A PLAN.

So here we go:

1. Write Down all your goals. For example, usually people will say ‘lose weight’ or ‘eat better’. I suggest you get specific. GET REALLY SPECIFIC ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE. Say:

- I want to see the cleft in my arm

- I want to run 1/2 a marathon

- I want to lose 10 pounds

2. After you write down what you want - create a realistic date when you want to achieve these goals. When you put a deadline on your goals, it not only sparks a sense of urgency, but it also allows you to sense the ‘realness’ of this commitment.

Here are some things to guide you:

- You should lose a healthy 1-3 pounds per week. (making that 7-10 pounds per month) ** Your weight loss is highly dependent on how much weight you have to lose.

- 3 months is always a good number.

3. Once you have a goal and a date, start mapping out the plan. This will include workouts and diet. For example, if your goal is to lose 20 pounds in 3 months, that means you have to lose an average of 7 pounds per month - which means around 2 pounds per week. So in order to burn 2 pounds, a.k.a. 7000 calories, then you must create a deficit in your daily diet and perform cardio.

For the breakdown of calories in food check out calorie king.

For the breakdown of calories burned during activities click here.

Also! Don’t forget to write down your good days - also plan out your ‘cheat days’. Remember that this is NOT a starvation diet - it’s moderation.

4. Get all the tools needed to make yourself successful. Let’s face it - there are certain things that will make this journey successful - and who would ever go on a hike without packing first, right? So here are some of the things I suggest you do:

- join a gym

- find a support group

- buy healthy groceries and throw out all junk food

- subscribe to daily fitness motivations on fitness cure- purchase new workout clothes and shoes

- get an ipod (to help you when training)

- get exercise dvd’s, tapes

- get a trainer

- find a role model

- buy a diet journal

5. Once you’ve mapped out the journey, got the tools and sought the leaders - the very next step you need to do is the most important: COMPLETE WHAT YOU SET OUT TO DO. TAKE ACTION AND DON’T FAIL.

Good luck everyone - join me on this site on this new year to a new you!