Written by: VIDA Fitness
Guest blog by Liv Kinkade, MS, RD, LD
January often brings with it a sense of optimism to set new goals and establish better habits. What better time to start that new training plan or get serious about your nutrition than with the blank slate of a new year?
The issue lies not in creating these goals but in maintaining them for any significant length of time. While 50% of people make at least one New Year’s Resolution, studies show that only 25% of these individuals successfully sustain these behaviors for more than thirty days.
If you’re ready to make 2025 the last year you start “all over again,” keep reading for some of my top tips to take your resolutions from fantasy to reality.
Be realistic
While it can be tempting to “start big”—doing a 30-day cleanse or hitting the gym every single day—in the hopes of achieving big results, this sort of all-or-nothing thinking can be one of the largest obstacles in maintaining new behaviors long-term.
Developing new habits takes consistency. If you haven’t been able to make it to the gym in six months because you’ve been busy with work, it’s unlikely your schedule will suddenly adjust to accommodate your new resolution of attending your favorite yoga class five days per week. But what CAN you commit to?
Example: I get done early on Wednesdays and am free on Sundays, so I’ll sign up for classes on those days at the beginning of every week.
Be specific
People often have an idea of their desired change—wanting to “be healthier” or “feel better”—but they may not know what putting that change into practice looks like. Vague goals tend to produce vague results…it’s difficult to start a journey with no destination!
If you hope to be less sedentary during the workday, can you further define that goal by committing to a day, time, or method?
Example: I want to feel less sluggish when I work from home, so I will take a 20-minute walk outside after my 2:00 pm meeting on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays.
Identify roadblocks
Any sort of health-related journey is unlikely to come without challenges. The key to sticking to your goal lies in identifying the things that will likely interfere with your goal ahead of time.
Do you have upcoming travel that may impact the foods you eat and the exercise you can perform? Are you tired of ordering out for lunch every day but have no idea what groceries to buy to pack them from home? Once you’ve identified your hurdles, you can start problem-solving for when you encounter them.
Make your gameplan foolproof
The resolutions that have the highest likelihood of failure are ones which are easily swayed by schedule changes, life events, or lack of motivation. If you know you hate cardio but want to increase your conditioning, you’re not likely to stick to a routine that has you on the elliptical seven days a week—especially at the end of a tiring day or when you’re scrambling to finish quarterly reports at work.
Consider how you can work towards your goal in a way that is compatible with the habits you already have in place. When a goal is both easy to incorporate into your current schedule AND enjoyable to execute, the likelihood of seeing that goal to completion increases exponentially.
Create accountability
When the only person holding you accountable to your resolution is you, it can be easy to get off track. When we invite other people into our process, it can help us remember WHY we started in the first place. While you may not always feel like waking up at 5:00 am for that Sweatbox class, you’d probably hate to bail on your friend who meets you there!
