A couple weeks into the New Year, and many people are either rethinking their New Year’s resolutions or are considering whether they should just give up altogether – they’ve already missed their goal so many times.
Adjust your resolutions if you need to; it’s more important to adjust and tweak your resolutions – even if you have to scale things
back – than to set such a high bar that you end up giving up all together.
Most people can identify things that they could add, subtract, or change in their life to be healthier. The key to making lasting change is finding little changes to move you toward those goals; little changes that you can maintain that will consistently move you toward a healthier lifestyle.
If you made a big sweeping dietary resolution – consider scaling it back and making some small changes – and stage them; do them one at a time and build on your success.
If you made fitness or exercise resolutions, consider the same strategy; scale them back and build on your successes. Instead of trying to hit the gym every day, start with three times a week. In the case of a specific activity (for example running) try going a shorter distance every other day – but do it consistently and build on your successes, and increase your frequency and/or distance over the course of the year.
Don’t abandon your resolutions, revise them to make them doable, and think about how much progress you will make and how it will feel at the end of the year if you take small steps toward a healthier lifestyle and build from there.