How to stick to those resolutions this year
Published on Monday, January 1, 2024
By: Rachel Vanderford, rvanderford@umc.edu
Have you ever wondered why New Year’s resolutions often fizzle out after only a couple of months? Each year, we set ambitious goals with genuine intentions, yet many of us find ourselves abandoning them before year's end.
Dr. Josie Bidwell, lifestyle medicine clinician and associate professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine, shares advice on creating sustainable health habits.
Addressing the six pillars of lifestyle medicine ‒ nutrition, physical activity, stress management, restorative sleep, reduction or avoidance of substances such as tobacco or alcohol, and social connection and resiliency— clinicians like Bidwell work with patients to identify specific health concerns and design a roadmap to achieving their overall health goals.
But the foundation for a successful health journey is paved with sustainable habits and here are five ways to help you on your path to better health.
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1. Determine your ultimate ‘why’.
The first step to starting a sustainable routine is to first identify your ultimate “why?” ‒ and be specific.
“Goals like ‘lose weight’ or ‘eat healthier’ can actually be very demotivating,” said Bidwell. “If losing weight is your only marker of success, and the weight comes off slowly—but appropriately because sustainable weight loss is slow—people can get very discouraged.”
Instead, ask yourself ‘how will my life be different if I did this?’ and focus on that. Your ‘why’ is the motivating force that will help keep you on track.
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2. Set a S.M.A.R.T. goal.
Utilize the S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting framework to determine specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-oriented goals.
Specific – Avoid vague statements. Your goal should be specific and well-defined. Instead of ‘I will walk more this year’, set a goal like ‘I will walk a lap around my neighborhood three times per week’.
Measurable - Measurable goals allow you to quantify your objectives, making it easier to assess your progress and stay motivated.
"If we take a goal like ‘eat healthier’, that can mean something different for a variety of people—not eating meat, only eating organic, not eating fast food, not drinking soda ... So just saying ‘I want to eat healthier’ is almost setting yourself up for failure because you’re not giving yourself any way to measure that.”
When measuring goals, it is important to focus on progress ‒ not perfection. If your current diet doesn’t include any fruit, and you start eating one serving of fruit per day — even if you aren’t yet eating the daily recommended amount— you are eating healthier.
Attainable - While it's good to challenge yourself, ensure that your goal is realistic and attainable based on your resources, skills and time frame. Setting unattainable goals can lead to frustration and demotivation. Consider your current circumstances and set goals that stretch your abilities but are within reach with effort and commitment.
Bidwell said plans start to backslide when someone tries to do too much too fast. “Sometimes people want to create a goal for all six pillars, but you don’t have to fix everything all at once,” she said. “Pick what you're most confident in working on first. And when you build it that way, it really decreases the chance of relapse."
Relevant - Remember your ‘why?’ when it comes to outlining your goal. Does the goal contribute to your personal or professional aspirations?
Do you want to enroll in CrossFit because the benefits of high intensity interval training contribute to your overall health goals or because a friend or someone on social media said that’s how they got “in shape.”
Time-oriented – A year can feel like forever when it comes to measuring your success. It is important to set a realistic and achievable timeline for accomplishing your goal and monitor your progress along the way by celebrating milestones.
Break your goal down into smaller chunks to help alleviate the pressure and better-track your progress as you go.
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3. Create an action plan.
“Even a well-crafted goal doesn’t ensure success because then you’ve got to build an action plan to go along with it,” said Bidwell.
It is good to start by identifying your current habits related to your goal. Then think about what you would like to do differently. What are the steps you need to take to get there?
“An action plan is very specific to each individual,” Bidwell said. “Even if all I saw were people with diabetes, one after another, every plan would still look different because every person is different. It’s also very much about what an individual is most confident in achieving.
After they write an action plan, I ask people ‘on a scale of one to ten, how confident are you that you’re going to do what you said you’re going to do?’ And if the number is less than seven, they’re not going to do it. That’s the magic number. If they say six, I’ll ask what kept them from saying eight, nine, or ten. How could you adjust that goal that would make you more confident? We identify that barrier and write a stronger plan.”
It can be as simple as changing your plan from “go to the gym four days a week” to “go to the gym three days a week” Bidwell said. Remember, you don’t have to get to the top of the mountain on your first day climbing.
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4. Create a backup plan.
Creating a sustainable action plan is imperative, but having a backup plan is equally important. Consistency is key when it comes to creating new routines or implementing new habits, but what happens when life throws a wrench in your plans?
If your plan is to walk on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but it rains Friday, what are you going to do instead? Your backup plan could be to make it up on Saturday or replace it with an indoor physical activity. It is important to follow through with a backup plan rather than forgo the activity altogether because doing so can derail your motivation.
A good tip for keeping yourself motivated is to share your plans with a friend, family member or partner, Bidwell said. “It can be very helpful to have an accountability partner,” she said. “Having someone to share your news with who can be your cheerleader and supporter can often help keep you on the right track.”
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5. Keep up the good work.
Implementing new habits can be hard and lasting change takes time. Remember it’s not all or nothing.
“We tend to think of food as healthy or unhealthy, people as fit or unfit, and that’s simply not the case,” said Bidwell. “There’s room for pizza, cookies, cake and all those things within a healthy dietary pattern. When people strive for perfection, 100% of the time, they are going to fall short of that.”
We’re all a work in progress. January is a really popular time for people to want to be ‘new year, new you’ but it doesn’t have to be January.”
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To schedule an appointment with UMMC Lifestyle Medicine, call (601) 984-2233 or visit umc.edu/healthcare/make-an-appointment. Telehealth visits now available.
The above article appears in CONSULT, UMMC’s monthly e-newsletter sharing news about cutting-edge clinical and health science education advances and innovative biomedical research at the Medical Center and giving you tips and suggestions on how you and the people you love can live a healthier life. Click here and enter your email address to receive CONSULT free of charge. You may cancel at any time.