GOAL-OVERHAUL

Four months after your vague New Year’s resolution to lose weight, where are you? By now — according to the stats — more than 60 percent of us have bailed and given up on them. Don’t be a statistic; overhaul your original goal and make it SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.

Success strategy: Get specific. Here’s your new SMART goal: “I will lose 10 pounds by summer by eating clean for all my meals, doing my strength and cardio training Monday through Friday regularly, and aiming to lose a pound a week before my vacation to Hawaii.” This gives you a much better map to follow and smaller, daily goals to reach in order to achieve your ultimate goal. Write down your new SMART goal on paper and hang it where you can see it every day or have your smartphone send a reminder. Good luck!

Ignite your fire

Need a spark of inspiration? The power of positive recall can get you motivated to move.

By Karen Asp

Motivation is a funny thing. Even if you’re a certified gym rat, you might have trouble getting psyched up to exercise every now and then. Here’s a surefire way to give that motivation a good kick in the pants: Recall a positive exercise experience.

In a study from the journal Memory, about 150 college students were asked to recall either a positive or negative memory connected to exercise that would increase their motivation to exercise. Meanwhile, a control group did no recall.

In the end, those who remembered a positive memory reported higher amounts of exercise, about 15 minutes (or more) of moderate-intensity activity during a weeklong period, than the control group. Surprisingly, negative memories connected to exercise also increased study participants’ activity level over the control group, although not as much as the positive exercise memory group.

Why? Although researchers don’t have a definitive answer, they do have a few theories. “Recalling a positive exercise experience could boost one’s self-concept in terms of exercise and fitness,” says Mathew Biondolillo, lead study author from the University of New Hampshire. That, in turn, could lead to more exercise.

Other research points to specific memories serving as a directive function, meaning that they direct or guide future activities and suggest plans of action based on past experience. “A positive motivational memory might give helpful guidance and instruction for people so they know how to repeat a past positive exercise experience in the future,” he adds.

So on those days when you’re vacillating between staying in bed another 30 minutes or heading to the gym, this study suggests that recalling those positive past experiences could make you choose the latter. For instance, think about completing your first 5K and how happy you felt as a result.

Can’t think of anything positive? Then follow the lead of the second group in the study and veer the other way into negative territory. For instance, maybe you picture a race you did in which you almost couldn’t finish. The memory could ignite your fire to exercise so you’ll do better next time.

When you’re vacillating between staying in bed another 30 minutes or heading to the gym, recalling positive past experiences could make you choose the latter.

243:(calories)

NUMBER OF CALORIES IN A BASIC BROWNIE. TO BURN OFF THE CALORIES, ACCORDING TO HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, A 125 - POUND WOMAN WILL HAVE TO DO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING FOR ONE HOUR OVER AND ABOVE HER DAILY ACTIVITY LEVEL: STRETCHING, HATHA YOGA, WATER AEROBICS, TAI CHI, VOLLEYBALL, BASIC GYMNASTICS, WALK 3.5 MILES, WASH A CAR.