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You made your New Year’s resolutions, but they’re already slipping? 

It’s usually around this time that we start slipping on our resolutions. Life hits us with busyness and that sense of gusto we experienced two weeks ago morphs into mid-January guilt. If you’re like me, the New Year always starts off with a sense of gusto, resolve, and a lot of “I wills”. “I will eat healthier, I will exercise more, I will go to sleep earlier, I will drink more water…” and so on. Before you know it there’s a long list of to-dos and coming up with a strategy to tackle them all is about as daunting as the goals themselves. Usually it’s around this time that we start slipping on our resolutions. Life hits us with business and that sense of gusto we experienced two weeks ago morphs into mid-January guilt.

Oftentimes when we set our resolutions we bite off more than we can chew (pardon the pun). Choosing to ‘lose ten pounds’ may be a worthwhile goal, but there are a lot of variables and ingredients that make up the recipe for losing weight. Instead, start by exploring how goals can be broken down into more “bite-size” steps. For example, making a plan to walk 20 minutes three days out of the week is a more achievable and tangible strategy than simply “exercising more”. Make your New Year’s resolutions more digestible by focusing on one change at a time. Say your goal is to have a healthier diet this year. If a drastic, cold-turkey change seems too overwhelming, try starting with changes in one area. For example, if the thought of giving up soda all at once causes you to cringe, a better option for you may be swapping out one can of soda for an eight-ounce glass of water each day. Check in with yourself at the beginning of each month and see how you’re doing with last month’s step. If you’re replacing that one can of soda with ease by February 1st, then try cutting back to having soda one day a week. By March maybe you can go without?

Buddying up also helps. Find a friend or family member who wants to join your walks/jogs/workouts, or a coworker who will cut back on soda too so you can commiserate! Registering and participating in the IT’S TIME TEXAS Community Challenge holds you accountable to your entire city or town through March 31st, and you can track your weight loss weekly and your physical activity daily right through the website!

Remember, transformation is not a future event. Simple, incremental changes go a long way in making healthy living the easy choice.

Written by Suzanne Heritage, IT’S TIME TEXAS Choose Healthier Coach