How to Make New Year’s Resolutions Last

Do you set New Year’s Resolutions? How does that go for you? How you do make New Year’s Resolutions last?

Let me guess, each year you start out strong, this is going to finally be your year to lose those extra pounds. You sign up at the gym, you sign up for that fancy calorie-tracking app, and you do great for the first month, maybe two. Then life starts getting in the way, you grab a pizza one night, you miss a few workouts, and before you know it your back to your old habits. Next year you’ll start again, but this year obviously just isn’t the one.

Does this sound familiar? This is what happened to me year after year, so many times. Each time I felt like a bigger failure, and each time left me with more extra pounds.

Why I hate New Year’s Resolutions:

• Self-improvement shouldn’t have a time frame. Have you ever waited to start eating well because well, New Year’s is just a month away? So instead of getting started, you eat ALL the Christmas cookies. And a few candy canes, and you somehow even swallowed some fruitcake. How does that help you improve?
• Resolutions usually come with a negative, failure mindset. What happens the first time you “cheat” on your diet? (Cheat and diet are both words that should be banished from your vocab, btw.) What most of us do at that point is decide we’ve failed and then give up.
• Resolutions are high pressure. It is much easier to stick to smaller, babystep goals than to try to climb the giant mountain goals. And then one babystep at a time, as you establish new, healthy habits, you find yourself at the top of that mountain without even realizing it.
• Weight loss resolutions usually involve making the same mistakes as last year. You count calories and try to repent of your sins by sweating your face off at the gym.

Why I love New Year’s Resolutions:

• There is nothing better than a fresh start! If New Year’s is going to be what will help you begin a health journey, then let’s have New Year’s every day!
• I have to love a holiday that helps so many people turn their attention to their health and taking care of their bodies. How incredible is that? Amazing!
• Hope and positive thinking abound! This is something the world needs more than anything. When you make a resolution, you are putting more hope out into the universe.

So how do you make New Year’s Resolutions last?

• Make your resolutions action-based, not results-based. For example, instead of a goal to lose 30 pounds, choose a goal to cook healthy meals at home at least five nights a week, or to exercise five days a week.
• Build babysteps into your goals. A goal of losing a lot of weight by the end of the year feels huge, but focusing on what you can do for just this month, this week, or this day can keep you on the right path. It also helps you get back on track faster on those days that things don’t go as planned. There is always tomorrow!
• Get some help. Working with a Health Coach will give you real nutritional knowledge. You can ditch the diet mindset, stop counting calories/points/macros, and lose weight by feeding your body what it actually needs. You get a cheerleader, an accountability buddy, an expert, and a friend. I currently have open spots for one-on-one coaching and would love to help you to reach your goals! Send me an email at Emily@healthbyemily.com, I would love to discuss my programs with you!
• Try new strategies. I’ve had people come to me and say that counting calories was the only way they had ever been able to lose weight, so they wanted help doing the same thing. And yet when I ask how much weight they have lost and how long they have kept it off, every single one has told me that the weight had come back. So did counting calories actually really work if the weight came back? Instead of strategies that work temporarily, try something new that will create healthy habits to make your weight loss permanent. Helping you find lasting strategies is another way a health coach can support you in your goals.

What are your goals for the new year? Have you made New Year’s resolutions in the past?