It’s that time of year again, when we start making promises to ourselves to live a better life. According to various polls throughout the years, 40 to 45% of adult Americans make resolutions each New Year’s. The top resolutions tend to be about weight loss, exercise regimes, and quitting smoking. But it’s hard to make these good intentions stick: a 2002 study in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that less than half of those who resolved to do something were able to maintain their resolutions six months later.
Going by all the blogging, tweeting, and Facebooking of my colleagues and other health professionals, lots of them say that resolutions can set you up for failure and that you should focus on a healthy lifestyle year-round instead. While I don’t disagree with these sentiments, I’m still in favor of resolutions. I love the idea that we can get a fresh start each year — as long as it doesn’t set us up for failure or postpone what could we could have started today. Here are some of my B Nutritious tips for healthy resolutions:
1. Who said that this could only happen on New Year’s? One of my clients started his resolution in mid-December. I support healthy changes whenever anyone’s ready to do them. The first of the month, the first day of the week, or any day that works for you.
2. Make achievable goals for yourself. We all know that you will not be going to the gym every day in 2012. A better goal would be to have at least 90 minutes of true exercise each week. This allows you to work within your schedule.
3. Nothing helps you drop a resolution faster than putting yourself on an overly strict diet. Instead of depriving yourself, focus on what you should be adding to your meals. For example, you might resolve that at every lunch and dinner you’ll have vegetables before eating the rest of your meal, and that you won’t touch the breadbasket.
4. Be specific. Don’t just resolve to lose 10 pounds, resolve to make the specific changes you need to do in order to lose those 10 pounds. See #2 and #3.
5. Make a plan on how to evaluate your resolutions. A weekly weigh-in? Monthly skinny-jean try-on?
6. After you lose some weight, you might need to make more changes to your diet or exercise so that you don’t plateau. Be willing to be flexible.
7. Don’t do it alone. Tell your family, friends and/or work colleagues what you’re working on. Chances are you’ll get extra support or perhaps even a buddy to do it with. As Lifehacker puts it, telling others about your goals is a way to “have a cheering section rooting you on all the way to your victory.”
Wishing all of you a wonderful and especially healthy 2012!
[Photo: Christy Thompson/Shutterstock]
