Healthy New Year Resolutions

The Endless Loop of New Year Resolutions

Let’s chat about your New Year Resolutions – specifically around your health goals. Do you find them hard to achieve? Have you restarted every Monday in January with great intentions, but have ended up feeling completely overwhelmed by Tuesday so much so that you think “it’s a bad week, I’ll start again next Monday”. Only for the cycle to keep repeating. And now that February is here, you may have even given up?

“While New Years goals have their place, I personally believe that creating consistency by doing what you can, with what you have, when you can is a much better approach to tackle the new year (and ultimately achieve your health goals) in 2023.”

Why consistency is key

When starting out towards achieving a new goal, it is hard not to try and do it perfectly. However, by trying to take an ‘all in or nothing’ approach, it becomes easy for overwhelm to take over the minute normal life happens which will then impact your long term success.

“Consistency is one of the most powerful tools you have. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about taking small steps and sticking to good habits for the long term”.

You can’t rely on the scales to keep you motivated

Unfortunately, things like the scales and even measurements can’t always be relied on to keep you motivated. There are times where you’ll stall, and that is absolutely fine!
In fact, it’s normal to have plateaus. Countless studies show that weight loss doesn’t occur in a straight line. No one loses 0.5-1kg per week for 10, 20 or even 50 weeks. They will lose weight for a few weeks, then plateau for a little bit, and then continue losing weight.

Fast results do not equal long-term results

I know that it’s tempting to go hard when it comes to weight loss. But the research shows that the best way to trim down is to reduce your calories steadily, not drastically.
The same goes for exercise. Working out for 20 minutes 3 times a week will help you work towards your goals, and you’re a lot less likely to injure yourself compared to jumping straight into 6 classes a week.

Keep the end goal in sight

Whenever someone comes to me with big health and fitness goals, I’ll ask them what their end goal is.

• Is it to always be in a calorie deficit and training daily?

OR

• is to have a life you enjoy while maintaining the body you feel comfortable in?

If your end goal is to have a healthy, sustainable lifestyle, the occasional ice-cream or piece of chocolate isn’t the end of the world. What you want to do is find the balance between enjoying those foods and not going overboard with them. Check-out our MumSafe Article on Why Diets Don’t Work!

It’s not about the 20% of foods that are delicious but perhaps not the most nutritious. It’s about the majority of the choices you make throughout your day and the habits you form.
If you’re eating nutrient-dense foods, sleeping well, managing your stress and moving your body most of the time, you’re already on track to hit your long-term health goals.