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Starting the New Year With the ‘Right’ Mindset

With the holiday finally over and the new year upon us, I’d be shocked if you haven’t thought about New Year’s Resolutions yet. While resolutions are a fantastic way to jumpstart your diet and exercise routine…that doesn’t mean they’ll actually have an impact on your health.

In fact, I’d argue if you can’t stick to your resolutions long-term, you may find yourself in a bad cycle of fad dieting and binge eating! According to U.S. News, approximately 80% of resolutions fail by the second week of February. Let that sink in. That means 8 out of 10 of you reading this will not stick to your healthy resolution plans!

If you want your resolutions to survive this year and actually help you reach your goals, you’re in luck because I have a smart approach to help you make your dreams a reality. My secret? Your mindset!

Resolutions tend to fail because we think of a really big goal we want to accomplish, create an intense game plan to get there that involves unrealistic changes to our current schedule, and then find it’s hard to sustain this after our initial motivation subsides. Not to mention so many popular diets and online workouts have great intentions, however, neglect to understand what YOU need and fit that into your current lifestyle.

I’m here to tell you that a well-balanced exercise and nutrition program does not have to be hard to stick to, especially if you take into account your individual lifestyle. In fact, whenever I see new clients as a registered dietitian, I never drastically change a client’s diet or lifestyle after the first time meeting with them. Why? Because that’s so unrealistic and that would be setting most people up to fail!

Instead, approach your resolutions with small and healthy changes over a long period of time yield lasting results. 

So before you set your resolution this year, focus on these 3 tips to create a positive mindset around your goals and resolutions that will actually survive the new year:

• Set small goals. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely encourage you to dream big – long-term goals are important and help to keep you motivated! That being said, you must create small goals to accomplish weekly when making a lifestyle change to help you stay focused on the bigger picture, consistent, and to assess if you’re making progress.

• Focus on your inner voice. How we talk to ourselves vastly impacts our ability to succeed. If you think you’re a failure for falling off the wagon one week, you’re more likely to fail next week too! Instead, change your inner voice towards success by catching those moments you talk negatively to yourself, and re-framing it in a motivational way. For example, say you set a goal around meal prepping your lunches every day before work. Instead of getting upset with yourself for not accomplishing it last week, change your mindset going into next week by saying “next week is a new week, and I can create a better plan to make sure I reach this goal!”

• Consider your mindset instead of your weight. Around the New Year, we love to focus on weight loss as a goal. Honestly speaking, the end goal of weight loss isn’t always the healthiest. Not to mention, body composition (ie your fat mass versus muscle mass) is a far better indicator of success!

I always joke that anyone can lose weight by eating less than what they burn. That being said… that doesn’t always mean it’s a healthy goal. Instead, I like to think of weight loss as a side effect to a healthier mindset change. When we stop focusing on the scale and focus on healthy behaviors like drinking enough water throughout the day and eating nutritionally balanced meals plus whole foods, that’s when your health and weight will naturally change!

All things considered, the New Year is a great way motivation to finally create a plan for those goals you’ve been dreaming of. Although 80% of resolutions fail by the second week of February, 20% do succeed. With a good plan, a positive mindset, and following the above tips – any goal is possible for you this year.

Article courtesy of: Lauren Smith MS, RD, LDN – Dietitians of Palm Valley