Every year is the same you put yourself under enormous pressure to change, a massive commitment to overhaul your life, drastic alterations to your lifestyle. It is all too easy to throw the baby out of the bath at this time of year, crazy requests on your body and your time mean you are set to fail. Overestimating what you can achieve means leaving other things out – like your self-esteem or self-worth when you falter. In order to carry out these huge changes, it can mean stealing time from other things, like your precious family time or self-care. This blog will help you think of longer-term, transformational change and plan small steps to get there.
Transforming your body and mind in the new year, learning how to shake up your eating habits and exercise, set goals and make decisions, and boost your motivation and happiness whether you choose to make New Year resolutions or not, every January feels like a new beginning, ripe with possibility and opportunity. Once the haze of Christmas has faded and the Christmas spirit has waned, how do you seize the momentum of the coming year and take positive steps towards the life you want to lead? And how do you keep promises you have made yourself once the dark winter has passed?
How do you keep up the momentum to change when over 80% of people give up on their New Years’ resolution by the 10th February. Even worse, maybe you are already feeling a little bit bad about the goals that you didn’t accomplish last year and then that makes you are a little more anxious about the ones you are hoping to make this year.
Resolutions Fail
The common painful issue with New Year resolutions is the language that you are using when you make them.
The stressful, take charge, motivational language can be very damaging. When you push yourself too hard the physical injuries and the mental anguish soon follow.
New Year Resolutions have this ‘all or nothing’ component to them. You are so hard on yourself that you are bound to fail. It is an ‘all or nothing’ attitude that hurts so much. It is all about succeeding or failing, black and white with no letup. Your inner teenager, rebellious nature, won’t stick to it for long.
“Today I will only eat healthily, I will eat no rubbish.”
“I will only eat what is on this diet meal plan I will not deviate”
At 11am or 7pm, once you allow a portion of food that you see as ‘bad’ pass your lips, that is it. You have ‘failed’, you beat yourself up, and you overeat for the rest of the day, and vow to start again tomorrow or next week or next year! This type of thinking is painful and it is a pattern. This all or nothing thinking doesn’t help you reach your long-term goal.
Resolutions set your ambition too high. If you make your resolutions a dream, a big dream is going to feel impossible especially if there is no plan to back it up. Resolutions are too vague. An unclear idea of ‘feeling better’ and ‘becoming more confident’ is not going to work. You have to get down and dirty, explore and really understand what you want and be specific and then set a plan.
Habits Work
Tune into what you want and becoming emotionally attached to your resolutions is a great way to help you succeed and then turn that into a plan of action. Ask yourself what do you really want to achieve? Get really under the skin of your desired outcome, get emotionally involved with why do you want to achieve it and start with one small habit that you can add into your day. Plan your steps and acknowledge that less is better.
Build in a long-term strategy and don’t underestimate the time it takes to reach it. For example, losing 3 stone in 3 weeks or months is too quick. You will need more time to understand your body and establish long-term habits. Plus it takes time to feel comfortable with the change you are making. If you are looking to lose weight and you do it too quickly what effect is that going to have on your body’s metabolism? Or if you start a new exercise regimen what effect is going to have on your body’s ligaments and tendons if you approach it too fast and dramatic?
If your short-term ambitions win the day then other things will be left out, like your self-esteem or self-worth when you fail. You will steal time from other things, like family time or self-care. Instead, implement long-term thought habits.
Add good things to your diet
Instead of demanding that you cut out this or that focus on the foods you should be saying ‘yes’ to, not the ones you should be saying ‘no’ to. Starting adding good stuff to your diet before you take out anything. Don’t worry about stripping things out from your diet instead add new things in
- Add water, increase your water intake so you can easily stop drinking so much tea, coffee or fizzy drinks. Join me for the free 7-day water challenge – add in water.
- Add more protein and fats to your diet to feel fuller for longer and the sugary treats won’t feel so tempting.
- Add more vegetables to your diet and feel better. Be positive and enjoy healthy, delicious food rather than vowing to cut out desserts or snacks forever. You will feel less restricted and less likely to overeat later.
- Don’t miss: Are breakfast cereals EVER healthy?
Be Body Positive
Being body positivity means being aware of your inner critic. Be conscious of the running commentary in your head that focuses constantly on your flaws. Instead of obsessing about the shape of your legs, tweak that thought into something positive about what your legs allow you to do. Thinking:
“my legs let me run three miles today” or
“this gorgeous body completed my 10,000 steps today”
These positive will set in motion other healthy behaviours.
Make your goals smaller
Eliminating sugar entirely just isn’t realistic. But sugar is a major source of calories that don’t provide any nutrition, so you should limit your intake. Save your sugar splurge for sweets you really love by cutting down on “hidden” sugars, such as those found in juices yoghurt and sauces. Find out more about 6 weeks sugar-free click here
- Read your food labels
Check out the ingredients list to avoid foods loaded with preservatives, high-fructose corn syrup, MSG and hydrogenated fats. If sugar is one of the first 3 ingredients don’t use it.
- Create a weekly plan
Asking “what’s for dinner tonight” makes it all too easy to grab some convenient (usually less-than-healthy) options, instead set aside time each week to create a menu. Make it a Sunday ritual or an evening ritual
Planning is the key to success when it comes to a healthy lifestyle. Start by making a dinner plan and the rest of the meals will fall into place. Make a list of the ingredients you already have on hand, search for meals that fit them and then create an online shopping list to get the rest of what you need.
- Gut workout
Improving your gut flora with homemade kefir is a great way to reset after the festive period.
Don’t miss my blog: What are probiotics and prebiotics?
Improving your digestive system is a great New Year’s resolution, look for foods that keep you feeling fuller and more satisfied for longer periods of time. You’ll eat less and will most likely be getting more nutrient density. For instance swap an unhealthy sugar snack for cheese and apple.
Spread your toast with a source of fat like almond butter or avocado instead of sugary jam.
- Spice up your life
Add some seasonings and spice to your cooking. Spices and herbs soothe and strengthen your bodies’ systems and reduce the kind of inflammation common in chronic diseases, such as heart disease and cancers. For instance use ginger as an all-natural digestive aid and immune booster and mint for its anti-inflammatory properties.
- Eat mindfully
If you tend to stress eat or skip meals only to binge later, resolve to eat more mindfully. At birth, we are hardwired with innate hunger and satiety cues and yet over time, you lose track of listening to these cues and instead you eat when you are tired, stressed or bored
Listen for a grumbling tummy, pay attention to how you feel before and after eating each meal and eat at the table without distractions from your TV, phone or laptop.
- Go beyond a diet…
Your real path to success is a holistic approach to wellness that goes beyond diet alone. A healthy life depends on satisfaction (does the food you eat make you feel good?), sleep, activity and social fulfillment, among others. Pause and assess how you’re feeling in each area of wellness, and work on those areas where you may be able to earn easy health gains.
Get Gorgeous is a journey together – yours and mine. Book some time for you get yourself started with an open and loving conversation, meet me where you are right now. If you feel ready to trust and move forward then let’s do this together. I am excited to chat and find out more about your dreams for 2020
PS. Don’t forget Gorgeous! your insight into great health and vitality Gorgeous! how to look and feel fantastic every day. Click here to find out about your Gorgeous book
Find out what other gorgeous clients have to say…
“love all the positive messages in this book. I would urge all older people to continue to live and learn. So often we get stuck in our ways. My book is currently being read by a male friend who heard Adele speaking about her approach and he found her ‘inspirational’. The book is still away from home so I’ll need to catch up with him soon and prize it away from him!”
www.get-gorgeous.com/book
LInda Bellshaw NHS Get Gorgeous Book www.get-gorgeous.com/book 6th December 2019