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Turning New Year Resolutions into Lifelong Habits 

Posted by Amy SmithBehaviour Change

Coach encouraging woman to run

Ready to make 2022 the healthiest year yet? Whether it’s eating healthier, exercising more or developing a better sleep routine…. Let’s work together to make them lifelong!  

Here at BeeZee Bodies we are experts in behaviour change, and we will work with you on making small changes to your habits and routines. Believe it or not, it is these small changes that lead to the biggest results! Challenges will arise, but we will help you overcome them and walk away from an ‘all or nothing’ mindset once and for all. With our years of experience behind us, we know that this is likely to be the thing that is holding you back. 

Make a plan... and make it specific!

Let’s start by thinking of the habit we would like to create and consider our level of motivation - What are the main reasons you want to introduce this habit? How motivated are you to make change?  

This might seem like a mountain to climb right now, but in reality, we only need to focus on taking it one step at a time… Break your habit down in to small, achievable goals which will give you more guidance and are more sustainable.   

  • What are you going to do? ​ For example… You want to eat more fruit and vegetables. But how many is more? Whilst 5 a day is the target, if you currently only eat 1 perhaps an increase to 3 is achievable for now  
  • Where are you going to do it? In the supermarket you will need to buy the products, and at home/work you will need them available to you.  
  • When are you going to do it? ​Could adding them as a snack be the best way for you to increase your intake? Start on weekdays at work and build up?  
  • With whom are you going to do it? Telling friends and family can help you stay accountable, also getting them involved with you can be a great support system.   

Just another tip… Don’t restrict. It is important to recognise that no food is inherently ‘bad’. Its simply that some food (like fruit and vegetables) are more nutritious than others (chocolate and sweets). However, these ‘every now and again’ snacks hold value in our diet, largely because we enjoy them! Therefore, we should not aim to cut them out of your diet completely as this can just make us want them even more! ​So when you do ‘allow them’ you then over indulge and can go into a dieting and restriction cycle.​  

Therefore it is important to also be realistic and kind to yourself. Create these goals to fit around your lifestyle, not the other way round.   

From there, we run the experiment… It is likely going to take a few attempts. You may have days where you don’t achieve your goal. Beezee Bodies will be here to show you how to take advantage of when it may not go quite to plan as well as to celebrate when it does.   

  

So what if we fail?

We are here to say that this is okay! At BeeZee Bodies we see the positives in failing, using it as a learning opportunity… We are all human after all, so lets not be too harsh on ourselves!  

Instead let’s ask ourselves – what got in the way of me making this change? What triggers were there? Consider any social and environmental barriers on your ability to make change.  

And then – How can I overcome this failure next time? What can I do right now to take steps towards this change? This is what we call the Habit before the habit.  

For example…

 Did you plan to increase your fruit and vegetables but still reach for the biscuits as they were quicker and easier to grab? With this in mind, could you have put the fruit basket on the kitchen side so it is the first thing you see? Perhaps you could have pre chopped veggie sticks ready to go so you don’t have to spend time cutting them when you need them most?  

Maybe you planned to get up and exercise in the morning but when waking up the weather was cold and wet so that snooze button was much more appealing? Here, could having your gym clothes out ready, the alarm on the other side of the room, or a plan B home workout ready to go have helped?  

Now with these tweaks, run the experiment again and see if these help overcome those barriers…  

Keep going!

Whether you smashed it this week or need to run the experiment again with another tweak… Just keep going! A positive mindset about what you can and will achieve is key! It’s the lots of little actions that will result in change, there is not a ‘quick fix’ that will result in your goals being achieved overnight. 

So keep your goals in mind, think back to those motivations you set at the start. An improvement of as little as 1% every week, adds up to big changes over the year! However, an ‘all or nothing’ mentality can stop us from achieving even that and mean we make things even more difficult for ourselves.  

Life is unpredictable, so we need to be flexible – anything we can implement to be a little kinder to ourselves will go a long way. Managing your expectations and making changes that work within your real life will create habits which are lifelong, whereas ‘never eating chocolate again’ or ‘running 5k everyday’ when you haven’t run before is not likely to last long. Incorporating all the things you love (yes, including chocolate every now and then!) will increase your enjoyment and happiness whilst living healthier.  

2022 can be the year to make lasting habits and we are here to support you. 

No crash diets, no public weigh-ins, and no putting the weight straight back on. We’ll work with you to build healthy habits that help you lose weight and keep it off for good.