Has the ‘new year new you’ bug worn off yet?
It’s almost the end of January, and you may already be well on your way to reach the goals you set for yourself. If you didn’t set a New Year’s resolution, set an intention for year and still want to make a change, but just need a little push to get started, I have outlined the steps you need to take to create a goal you can achieve with flying colours.
But hold up- first off- you are already enough! You don’t need to make big goals around nutrition this time of year and I encourage you to not buy into all the ‘new year, new you’ weight-loss diet culture BS. You can set goals anytime of year and you don’t need to make any right now if you don’t want to. You can go through the questions and see if any goals resonate with you. If not, keep up the great work and mindset you already have!
If you are struggling with eating mindfully, have negative thoughts around food or are suffering from uncomfortable gut symptoms or other symptoms of chronic disease and you haven’t found a solution that works for you, you may choose to work on these in 2020 and have big goals.
Just like any time of year, you need to make a plan of what to do as part of your daily routine to make your big goal happen.
You may have great intent to tackle your resolutions but without a plan in place, you may find yourself making the same goal next year… and the year after that.
Resolutions are typically your big goals that you want to accomplish and are based on a need for change, but they need to be built on consistent daily habits to actually happen.
If you are thinking about making a change, reflect on your current eating relationship, health or symptoms, and think about these 7 questions:
- What are you doing now that is working for you?
- What are you doing that isn’t serving you?
- Is there something you actually want to change?
- Why is this important to you?
- What barriers will you face when making this change?
- How will you make this change? Hint- what will your daily habit be?
- How confident are you that you will succeed? If you aren’t super confident, shrink the habit and make sure you can smash it! I like to think about a scale from 1-10. Aim to set your goal so you are 8-9/10 confident so it’s challenging but most importantly- achievable. You can build on your success and feel great about it instead of feeling down on yourself for never meeting your goals.
It’s really the small things you do every day (though they may feel big at the start) that create real change.
Are you ready to start?
If you are looking to build your relationship with food through mindful eating, you should check out our FREE mindful eating guide– 5 Simple Steps to Eat Mindfully Everyday.
We are also available for 1:1 dietitian support, and have a Mindful Eating Workbook for self directed support.
Happy planning!
Your dietitian,
Erin Branco, RD
P.S. We would love to hear the goals you have created with this 7 step process! Feel free to connect with us over on Instagram @branconutrition!