Happy New Years, friends!
I am grateful for a great 2016, including the balance I have achieved with health, fitness, body image, and recognizing what’s most important to me in life.
Some tips I have for moving into a happy & healthy 2017 (I will be following these as well):
1) Try to resist the urge to jump on the January 1st weight loss bandwagon. There’s a tendency to go too extreme with fad and crash diets when quick weight loss is desired. Instead, make health your goal. Set mini-goals like recognizing hunger- & fullness cues, or planning balanced meals. If you’re in need of extra motivation to avoid dieting, consider that research shows that 95% of dieters re-gain the weight they lost (if not more) within 2 years of weight loss. This is certainly true of myself and clients I’ve worked with.
2) Evaluate your behaviors related to health, nutrition, fitness, and body image. Everyone is different and experiences a unique response to ‘health’ behaviors. For me, weighing myself on a regular basis is something I choose not to do. Despite fully understanding that fluctuations in body weight are completely normal, seeing a higher number than I was anticipating can lead to disappointment for me. So I save weight measurements for doctors appointments and whenever else it’s necessary. Another person may be able to see their scale weight much more objectively. Take some time to evaluate how your health behaviors affect your mindset and mood. If it’s not positive, the behavior is not serving you.
3) Find what works for you. When you’re first starting out on a journey to improve your nutrition and health, it can be helpful to have guidance from a coach, teacher, or other source of credible education. However be careful of getting lured into following a nutrition-guru that prescribes a list of do’s and dont’s. I’ve been enjoying the benefits of eating low-carbohydrate foods, a dietary pattern that most dietitians would not recommend, but it works for me.
A Whole New Fit 