I have worked in the fitness industry for 8 years now (whoa), so I am no stranger to the cyclical nature of the New Year. December is slow - both in the gym and for new nutrition clients, the January is jam-packed. The gyms are busy, crossfit classes are huge, and we have a flood of new friends ready to start the year with a revamp to their holiday diet of cookies and eggnog. By the time mid-Feburary rolls around, the gyms are back to normal attendance and my inbox is no longer overflowing and things are pretty standard until summer rolls around and it’s “beach body” time.

This pattern is nothing new. It’s something I’ve observed year after year in my time as a crossfit coach, personal trainer, and nutrition coach - a cycle that has been around for decades.

What’s the deal?

I don’t think the problem is that we’re bad at trying to be healthier, but that we are inherently bad at setting ourselves up with New Year’s resolutions we can actually keep.

I strongly believe in the importance of flexibility and sustainability when working towards our health and fitness goals.

By flexibility, I mean that we don’t have to eliminate all the foods we love in order to reach our weight loss goals, or force ourselves into the gym seven days a week in order to get in shape. We often think that the only way to be successful with our health goals is to be miserable, but flexibility means finding balance in still eating foods we love and still having a life outside of the gym, even when we do have big goals.

By sustainability, I mean looking beyond just the 30-day quick fix programs and creating habits that we can stick to for life rather than rules we just follow for a month before going back to our old ways.

Because there is an overwhelming amount of nutrition and fitness information available to us at all times, it’s easy to get caught in a cycle of always trying the next new fad.

So when it comes time to create New Year's resolutions, we usually get right to the big stuff like starting a new diet or workout plan while ignoring the ideas of flexibility and sustainability and disregarding the small steps it may take to get to those goals. 

Taking time to set intentional goals is often the difference between giving up on your New Year’s resolutions by the second week of February and actually ending the year having crossed some big goals off of your list.

3 WAYS TO START THE NEW YEAR WITH RESOLUTIONS YOU CAN ACTUALLY STICK TO:

1 — DITCH THE RESOLUTIONS, SET GOALS

A majority of all New Year’s resolutions are geared towards health and wellness, But it’s estimated that only about 10% of individuals succeed in sticking to their resolutions throughout the year. (That’s not a very great statistic.)

This low success rate doesn’t mean that we’re just bad at trying to be healthier, it means that we’re good at making resolutions that set us up for failure from the get-go. 

You’re probably familiar with the pattern of going into another new year with resolutions like “I want to get in shape” or “I want to eat healthier.” I know I’ve done it (plenty of times). But rather than another year of making resolutions to keep, we can shift to creating solid goals we can actually achieve. 

Instead of “I want to lose weight,” set a specific and measurable goal like “I want to lose 10 pounds by March” or “ I want to fit into size 6 pants by July”. 

With this approach,

“I want to eat healthier” becomes I want to eat a vegetable with every meal, or only eat out once a week.

And 

“I want to get in shape” becomes I want to exercise at least 3 times a week or I want to train for a marathon in September.

As elementary as it seems, shifting from vague resolutions into measurable goals can make all the difference.

2 — BE REASONABLE

You can set the most specific and measurable goal out there, but have to also recognize that different goals require different levels of commitment. While we all want to be leaner or faster or stronger,  we may not always be willing or able to do what it takes to get there and expecting ourselves to be adherent all of the time is unrealistic.

Committing to a Keto diet where you cut out all carbs may not be reasonable if your favorite foods are bread and pasta.

It may not make sense to go vegan if you’re still struggling to get that one vegetable in every day

And it may not be realistic to sign up for an Ironman if you don’t have any current workout routine in place at all right now. 

There is nothing wrong with setting lofty goals; just be sure you are willing to put in the work before committing to them, and make sure that they allow you the flexibility that is necessary in creating new habits.

3 — BE CONSISTENT

Big goals are only met through small, sustainable changes.

We can shift our vague resolutions to specific goals and make sure those goals are reasonable, but that’s only step one and two. The next step is taking action and, more importantly, being consistent in that action.

There is a lot of noise out there - an overwhelming amount of contradictory information regarding the best diets and the best workout plans for your New Years goals. But even if we had all the knowledge and tools regarding nutrition and exercise, nothing would happen without using those tools consistently.

So if you want to lose 10 lb this New Year, focus on the small and consistent changes that will lead to one pound at a time. We don’t need to start a new fad diet, we need to start cooking more meals at home. We don’t need to start the year with juice cleanse, we need to start by drinking more water.

Creating lasting results requires making small changes, consistently, over time.

I know that goal-talk can be boring, but if we’re seeing the same pattern of major goal drop-off year after year, something needs to change, right? Being part of that 10% of individuals who actually stick to their New Year’s goals requires thinking beyond just January (and the first week of February) and creating goals that don’t just set you up for failure.