The days are rushing by and we’re already seeing the month of January coming to a close, even though it feels as if the holidays and New Year’s Eve was only yesterday. That probably means most of us are already getting to the point where we are struggling with those new year’s resolutions we committed to on January 1. Sure, it was easy enough to get to the gym three times a week and eat low-carb foods the first week or so, but now things are getting more challenging and you may not be sure what to do next.

The most important thing to remember is that it’s a marathon, not a race. By using the right strategies to keep making healthy choices, you’ll be able to stick to your goals.

1 Make exercise fun

If the only reason you’re going to the gym every day is to cut down on those calories you’ve consumed, we’ve got bad news for you -- it’s not going to be enough to motivate you to stick to the program. Unless you’ve got a nutritionist or exercise coach meeting with you every week to ensure you’re going to the gym and eating well, it’s more likely than not that you’ll end up making excuses and talking yourself out of getting in that workout.

One way of avoiding this pitfall is by making exercise fun. Instead of just going on the treadmill every day until you die from boredom or exhaustion, try something fun like a spin class, yoga, or kickboxing. The fact of the matter is that even exercising for just 20 minutes can benefit your mood for the next 12 hours, which means that the benefits are not only physical, but mental, too.

2 Make your home more beautiful

Even if one of your new year’s resolutions this year is to save money, that doesn’t mean you can’t make your home more beautiful. There are easy ways to get organized, such as putting a few Ikea prints up on your wall or dedicating your desk drawers to objects you actually use instead of clutter. The fact is, living somewhere aesthetically pleasing and organized is good for you -- so good for you, actually, that according to a study in the journal Psychological Science, “relative to participants in a disorderly room, participants in an orderly room chose healthier snacks and donated more money.”

So your mind’s not only at peace, but you’re also going to be healthier and more generous? It’s amazing what a difference an orderly room can make. If you’ve been thinking about whether or not that bathroom renovation is really necessary, maybe it is time to make some changes. If so, make sure to take a look at services from Daly City plumbers and this blogpost about 9 signs it’s time to renovate your bathroom.

3 Be smart about your eating habits

In the US, where more than 2 in 3 adults are overweight or obese, we hear about the health crisis constantly and it can be easy to feel so much guilt when you slip up that it’s hard to remember why you even started trying to get healthy in the first place.

Unfortunately, this is an unhealthy way of thinking. Instead of guilting yourself all the time or suffering every time someone offers you a slice of cake at a party, why not practice mentally healthy ways of losing weight? Forgiving yourself when you make a mistake, for example, or giving yourself one cheat day a week as a prize for all your hard work can really help keep you on track. Sure, you may have felt like cutting all sugar, fat, and dairy on January 1, but you can’t beat yourself up every time you indulge in a little something a nutritionist would label as being “bad” for you. A lot of your success will depend on the psychological; in fact, there are ways to shift your mindset so you’re more primed for healthy weight loss, according to this article.

4 Deal with your stressors in a healthy way

Are you working hard this year to improve your credit or save a little bit of extra money each month? Or maybe you want to get better at time management or finally apply for that grad school program you consider every year, only to watch the deadline pass you by. While these are all admirable goals, they will bring an additional layer of stress into your life, and with 77 percent of people regularly experiencing physical symptoms caused by stress, you probably don’t need any more help in that department.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking on new challenges, but you will need a plan for dealing with these new stressors in healthy ways. Consider meditation practices, seeing an online therapist, diffusing essential oils, or anything else that helps you to decompress, and make sure to check out this article with 8 steps to feeling happier, healthier, and less stressed overall.

As you can see, with just 4 simple strategies, you can stick to your plan of becoming healthier in 2018, and you’ll be able to do it without completely going crazy, either. At the end of the day, your physical and mental health go hand-in-hand, so make sure you’re striking a balance in learning to take better care of yourself.

Which of these strategies are you thinking of using to stay on track in 2018?