Six Tips To Keep Your New Year's Health Resolutions On Track

Starting a new year is a great time to start new habits, and to brush away the old ones that aren’t serving you. We always like to sit down on December 31st and reflect on the year as a family, and then write down our intentions for the next year. However, having the best intentions is only one part of the equation. To make a lasting change, you need effective action throughout the entire new year as well! That can be a tall order, but there are things you can do to keep yourself on track with any goals you have for the new year.

Start Small

Did you know that studies show 80% of New Year’s Resolutions fail by February? There’s one common mistake that leads to resolutions “failing”— and that’s setting expectations you can’t meet. That’s why we encourage setting obtainable, small goals that can build to bigger ones in the future.

If your goal for 2024 revolves around exercising, take an inventory of where you’re at, and then find what would be an easy step to take from there. If you don’t exercise at all, maybe it makes sense to set a goal to take short walks around the block or go to the gym for 30 minutes once or twice a week. Exercise is one where it’s crucial to start small to avoid injury. Going from zero to seven days a week in the gym is an almost guaranteed route to a discouraging injury.

Likewise, don’t jump into the deep end of “healthy eating,” but instead go for “healthier eating.” Changing engrained habits can be extremely difficult, so focus on easy adjustments: replace soda with sparkling water, reduce the amount of times you eat processed foods, or replace one meal a week with a vegan dish. Once you make small reductions, it’s much easier to work towards those massive lifestyle changes down the road.

Keep Track of Your Progress

One thing that can help you adjust to a healthier lifestyle is to keep track of the changes you’re making. Earlier we said to take an inventory of where you’re at. This could be in your head, but why not write it down? Write down how many times a week you exercise, meditate, cook food at home. Also keep track of bad habits like eating fast food. See where you can make a change, and write down your intentions.

Next, keep some record of your progress in plain sight. If you have a wall calendar, get some star stickers and give yourself a star every day you achieve your health goal. If you’re focused on healthy eating, make a list of what healthy meals you have planned.

Focus on Habits, Not Results

While we’re talking about monitoring success, we want to say something very important: don’t make weight loss your primary goal! There are many, many ways to lose weight. Some healthy, some not so much. It’s also not a sustainable goal for many people, because they change their habits once they hit the right number on the scale.

That’s why we emphasize healthy habits—eating right, getting exercise, and helping your body heal from injury and illness— not what the scale says or how many reps you can bench press. By building healthy habits, you’re rewiring your brain to have new routines that will lead to those positive outcomes you want to see. That’s why we encourage monitoring how many times you perform a healthy action when you’re keeping track of your goal.

Don’t Give Up!

One of the other reasons 80% of resolutions fail: people let them. Spending less time on your phone is a common resolution, and it’s one that’s easy to “fail.” Sometimes, there’s a day where you get glued to your phone for one reason or another, whether it’s a bout of insomnia or you got caught up looking at pictures of old friends and family. However, breaking that screen time rule once isn’t an excuse to throw it out altogether! At the end of the day, resolutions are about building change you want for yourself, not winning or losing at a game.

Every day is a new opportunity to be the best version of yourself, so keep looking forward and stay focused on why you want to achieve your goal in the first place.

Focus On What Speaks To You

It’s important to bring up “why” at this point: why are you setting a health-related goal in the first place? What will improve in your life you make an adjustment? Is it something you want to improve, or something that someone else made you think you should improve?

Sure, Dr. Kelly says meditation is great. But what if you don’t have the time to focus on a meditation practice? Don’t do it! Find something else that you would like to improve, and do that instead!

Always focus on what will be meaningful for you, because at the end of the day, you’re the one you are accountable to in your own head. Most importantly, find something that will serve a purpose. If you’ve always wanted to hike the Grand Canyon, but think you can’t because of your health, focus on the things that will make it possible to achieve that bucket-list goal!

Ask For Help

You’re not in it alone. There are countless people you can recruit to be your personal cheer squad: spouses, best friends, coworkers. Talk about your health goals with them, and check in with them on how you’re doing. You never know who will have great advice, or who will want to join in with you and achieve the same goal. This is great to keep you on track and accountable.

More importantly, you can always lean on us! We might have a great blend of herbs, or an acupuncture treatment routine that could help you on your journey. Our mission at Roots is to help you become the person you want to be, so make sure you tell us any time you start a new routine. At the very least, we can offer that encouragement and support you need to keep going!

Sources:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/modern-mentality/201812/why-new-years-resolutions-fail