Well, it is the first week of the New Year and I would not be surprised if most of you reading this have set a New Year’s resolution that involves some sort of weight loss or fitness gain. You are lugging your gym clothes to work, packing your lunch bag full of veggies and lean protein and you have vowed to stay away from anything with sugar in it. This is the year you are going to get your act together and finally be able to fit into that pair of jeans that you have been holding onto since that one day, years ago, when you were thin enough to wear them. Right?
Let me ask you this: how many times have you started the year out with high expectations only to fail weeks later when that bottle of wine or chocolate bar finally wins and finds itself in your mouth? New Year’s resolutions do not work, and there are reasons why health food stores have their shelves stocked with herbal detoxes and fitness centers are offering discounts on memberships. Because they are preying on all of us who are trying to break every single bad habit all at once!
I have talked about goal setting before, how goals need to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and within a time frame. This year, however, I want you to change that model, because I have been doing this long enough to know that saying I am going to lose 20 pounds in 10 weeks by cutting out sugar and alcohol and going to the gym 6 days a week does not work.
If you are someone who hates the gym and loves sugar, how do you expect to completely change your way of life in one day? It’s impossible, trust me.
Instead of the old model, write down 10 habits that you would like to see change. For example, maybe you stay up too late, or you grab a muffin every time you are buying a coffee, or you can’t go to bed until you have had your post dinner bowl of cereal, or you never seem to have healthy snacks available on the go, or you are always too tired to exercise, or do not have time to go to the gym. Figure out where you can make changes in your life and then week by week, or month by month, start to change those habits. Remember, one change a week equals 52 changes a year, and if you are only working on 10 changes that means in 10 weeks you could be living a completely different way of life and have the next 42 weeks to continue to improve on those changes.
I had a client come to me a few years ago who was always battling with her weight. Every week she would come to her workout telling me that this week was the week she was going to cut out sugar, exercise every day, sleep more and drink less. Without fail, she would show up at her next session, a week later, saying she did not do any of it and was going to start again.
She had been living this way for years, constantly trying to make change, but because she was overwhelmed by all the changes that she was attempting, she was never successful. I finally convinced her to take it one week and one change at a time, and without even realizing it she was living a completely new way of life within 10 weeks. At the end of that year she had dropped 50 pounds.
So, be kind to yourself during these next couple of weeks and don’t expect too much. Put the detox away, you don’t need it, and get rid of the juice cleanse as it’s a waste of time. Pick a few things to start working on now, and save the rest for the month of February. With this balanced approach to living who knows, maybe this is the year that you are finally successful.
Attached- John Krasinski leaving the gym the other day in Los Angeles.
