Why New Year's Resolutions Fail

It has been a while since I've posted, and I thought I would share my first post from my other website and business for woman over 40 and beyond at Lisha Nutrition & Wellness Coaching.

 IT is now officially 2023! Whew! Where does the time go, but I want to kick off the new year with some words of encouragement.
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Most new year’s resolutions are ways for us to better ourselves or to obtain certain goals. The big ones you’ll always find is exercising more (yes, the gyms will be packed right now.) along with dieting to lose weight with an uptick in wellness programs.

Although these are well intentioned goals, the results for a majority of these will be temporary at best. I say “temporary” because for like a lot of us. Life happens. Busy schedules with demands of work and family life and it goes on and on…….

Now with my mission with Lisha Nutrition & Wellness Coaching in helping women 40 and over, achieve better health through nutrition and healthy habits, the challenges get even more deep because we are at that stage in life where life is busier with limited time focused on our health. But, if we don’t make time for ourselves, the results can be dire with some developing chronic illnesses such as diabetes and the dreaded weight gain that some of us just accept as getting older. If anything, that really needs to change is our “mindset.”

So, this brings me back to the topic of this blog post of “Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail?”  and this is specifically for women in the age category I mention. Many of you, know what to do, but may become detoured to reaching wellness because various factors in your personal life and not even realize this is the case. You may say things like “I’ve tried EVERYTHING, and nothing works!” Or you may say
“People in my family have these chronic conditions and it runs in the family, so I’ll probably develop them too.”

Or you may have the mindset of “There is so much conflicting information out there, how do I know what truth is or not?” These may be legit concerns, but this should not be a reason for giving up on yourself as you will be the deciding person who can determine better health for you. 

So, I say resolutions fail because we may give up on ourselves WAY too soon! We also may think healthy changes are not happening fast enough or we completely throw in the towel which is basically the nail in the coffin! 

I think small steps and goals are the way to go for the long haul. Once you have success with starting off small and making things a “habit” it now becomes a part of your lifestyle.
Will this happen overnight? Of course not, that’s why it's important to do things in a very realistic and doable way that works for YOU and that involves, planning, prioritizing and preparation.

A simple example could be your excuse of saying “I’m too busy, I work long hours and have no time for exercise.” This is a REAL fact for a lot of people, and I don’t discount it. But you have NO time? Instead of this excuse, you could start off small with a time slot of only 5 or 10 minutes dedicated to exercise or I like to say the word “movement.” This movement could take place first thing in the AM or could happen on a lunch hour or could be right before dinner time while your meal is being cooked. (This is planning.)

The way to prioritize movement would be allocating a time schedule of days. Again, don’t overwhelm! If all you can manage in the beginning is twice a week that is fine because the payoff is consistency. After you get good at building this habit, then you can increase.

In this example, the preparation if you are starting off with a tight time schedule, that very well may mean, going through a selection of quality you tube fitness videos with specific time intervals between 5-10 minutes and then creating a playlist. Or you could go with another option of downloading free fitness apps with this same focus. Once, you have these steps in place, you’ve stopped your excuse of no time for exercise, and you now have an “action” plan to get there. 

To sum up this post, the focus should be sustainable and manageable habits you can do easily when it’s made a priority and keeping things really SIMPLE.  Lastly, always, always, always, celebrate these achievements!

Until the next blog post, BE WELL:)
Eat Good! Look Good! Feel Good!
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Vanessa LaBranche
Chef Educator & Nutrition Coach