2 Tips that will make sticking to your New Year's resolutions easier
You set the goals. You bought the equipment. But now it’s sitting in the corner and you’re tempted to let it collect dust because it’s too hard! It’s too hard to completely change your diet and wake up for a 5 a.m. cycle class. New year you, and current you aren’t the same person anymore. But does that mean your only options are either pushing through and being miserable or giving up altogether? No way, mama! I have two tips that are going to make sticking to your New Year’s resolutions so much easier!
I love the fresh start of a New Year as much as the next girl, but I also know how real it is to be burnt out on all of the changes you’ve tried to make only two weeks later.
And let me tell you the biggest mistake you’re making is trying to do it all at once!
If on January 1st, you cut out all the “bad” foods, workout for an hour every single day, and drink 2 gallons of water, then of course you want to quit now! That sounds horrible and exhausting.
I see this happen to almost every mama I talk to.
The moment they sign up for my program they are ready to go all in. They’re ready to stop eating anything I tell them to and buy a gym membership so they can get the results they want.
But I don’t let them do that.
Because it doesn’t work.
If it worked, we would all have reached our goals years ago!
So, what does work?
Let’s talk about it.
Start small and be consistent
Instead of trying to change all of your habits right away, you need to pick one and master it. If you work on becoming great at just one aspect of your goals, you’ll start to build habits. And habits create results!
For example, when I’m working with a new client the first skill I have them master is tracking their food. Because all the other things I’m about to teach them hinges on being able to accurately track their food.
We don’t start changing their diet, just tracking the food they’re currently eating. Because another important part of making changes is starting where you’re at - not where you want to be.
Think about it. When you set your goals for the year, did you know your starting point? Or did you just know the endpoint?
Drink a gallon of water a day
Lose 20 lbs
Eat more protein
Exercise for 30 minutes a day
Those should be what you’re striving for, not where you start.
Again, I teach this inside my Macros Made Easy Program, but before you can make progress on your goals you need to know where you’re at right now.
The reason I don’t jump straight into changing my client’s diets is that we need to establish a baseline.
If I told someone who was eating 50 grams of protein a day that they needed to start eating 150 grams/day and made them hit that goal tomorrow they would fail!
They’d fail because…
Changing your diet that drastically would upset your digestive system and if you don’t feel good, you won’t stick with it.
You don’t have the knowledge to hit that goal and being frustrated with what to eat wouldn’t make you excited to continue.
It’s too big of a stretch mentally. If you can’t figure it out in your mind, then you won’t be able to do it physically no matter how excited you are.
Trying to do it all at once sets you up to fail. And I don’t want to set my clients up for failure! So we learn where they’re at right now and then we make small, manageable adjustments until they hit their goals.
And let me tell you, that taking things slow sets my clients up to win long after they stop paying to work with me.
The other big lesson I teach my clients, especially when they’re just starting out, is to stop expecting to be perfect.
Don’t expect perfection
Too often, we expect to be perfect when we start to work on a new goal or habit. But that expectation only sets you up to fail.
Allow yourself to be a beginner.
I know that somewhere along the way you were told that it wasn’t ok to be a beginner.
That you needed to show up and be perfect from the start. That if you needed to ask questions, or get clarification on something, then you weren’t good enough. If you couldn’t get step one correct the first time, then you weren’t worthy of the success that came after step one.
But that advice has failed you time and time again, so it’s time to let go of it.
Everyone has to start somewhere, and you need to celebrate the fact that you’re starting. Then, give yourself the grace to learn.
Think about it this way.
When your kids are learning to read and they mispronounce a word, do you jump up out of your chair, point at them and yell “HA HA” in their faces?
Of course not!!!
So stop doing that to yourself, Mama!
If you eat more than you planned to or miss a workout, that’s ok! You haven’t failed. You’ve simply made a mistake. And you can come back from that.
Living a healthy life isn’t a yes or no situation. You’re not all in or all out. It’s going to ebb and flow. Sometimes you’re going to eat like a bodybuilder. Sometimes you’re going to eat like a three-year-old. Both are OK to do.
You’re building habits and habits take time! When you make a mistake, recognize it and then, get back on track as soon as you can.
The number one reason that people give up and fail at their resolutions is because they make themselves feel bad about making a mistake.
They talk down to themselves or they come up with excuses as to why the goal was unachievable in the first place.
So don’t fall down that rabbit hole. Just get back on track! If you overate at lunch, then get back on track at dinner. If you missed your workout today, that’s fine, just get back to it tomorrow. The sooner you dive back in, the less time your mind has to talk you out of it.
Mama, I know that you set goals that you want to reach, and if you’re hearing this message I want you to recommit to yourself. Promise yourself that you’ll start small and create consistency. Promise yourself that you’ll allow yourself to be a beginner and that you’ll get back on track as soon as you can.
If you still feel lost with how to hit your health goals, then let’s chat. I help busy mamas lose weight while building sustainable habits that lead to long-term health.
I can teach you how to eat for your body and your life without sacrificing all the foods you love. Book a Healthy Mama Blueprint Call to get a roadmap to your healthiest life!
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