How To Set Attainable New Years Resolutions In a Positive Way
Now that we're a week into 2023 let's review the New Year’s resolutions that most of us set at the start of the year. One of the most common resolutions people make in the new year is to lose weight. This usually leads to tough diets that burn out after 2 or 3 weeks resulting in negative body/mind/food relationships.
While I do believe setting health goals for ourselves can be helpful with managing symptoms and seeing results, the pressure of a new years resolution can be tough on mental health.
So, how can we set attainable new years resolutions in a positive way? By keeping a few key things in mind, you can set goals around your health that are positive and manageable. Here are my top tips:
Be Mindful of Your Wording
Instead of focusing on the scale, focus on goals like the ones listed here. They are a more positive way of looking at your new year goals since you are aiming to gain something, not restrict. Instead of ‘ I want to lose weight’ try ‘I want to move more’ I’ve listed a few other swaps below.
The secret is that the things on my list here do help facilitate weight loss in the body in a way that is gentle and sustainable. For example getting adequate protein in your day to day helps to maintain health blood sugar, stress and sex hormones - all of which are involved in weight/appetite regulation.
Small Goals Add Up To Big Changes
You have a whole year stretched out in front of you, all your changes do not need to happen at once. With my own health the changes I made certainly didn't all happen in 7 days! Focus one on goal at a time and once it becomes a habit, bring in another positive habit.
Maybe next week is about drinking 2 litres of water throughout the day or getting to sleep before 11pm. Once that is an established habit, introduce another like eating an extra portion of fruit every day.
It’s Not All or Nothing
You don't need to be perfect all the time to enjoy good health! I have multiple chronic health conditions, PCOS, endometriosis and fibromyalgia (which I have been symptom free from for years now) all of which I manage with diet and lifestyle.
I can honestly tell you that I'm not super strict 100% of the time because to do so isn't sustainable, especially when you're managing lifelong conditions.
What it comes down to is understanding your individual needs and doing what you can to support them most of the time. For example, my body is super sensitive to sugar and I flat out don't feel great when I eat it. If I introduce daily sugars into my diet then it comes out in my hormones and when my fibromyalgia was active I would get a big flare up. But I have a massive sweet tooth!
To allow myself to enjoy what I enjoy I am selective about what types of sugars I have and how often, e.g. a homemade cake vs store bought and making sure I am supporting my blood sugar levels by eating protein/fats first.