New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work. Find out What Does.
It’s that time of year again. Every time you turn on the TV, look at your computer
screen, open a magazine, or walk past a store, you hear or read about how to lose weight and get in shape. Please do yourself a favor, do NOT make New Year’s Resolutions. Why? Most people go back to their old habits within a few days or at most a few weeks. For most of us, to change our habits it takes more than a date on the calendar to inspire us to change.
What is a habit? It is something you do over and over again. We all have habits. Some are healthy, some aren’t. Some we like, some we don’t. It takes changing habits, exchanging one for another to make changes that work and last for a lifetime.
For example, think of brushing your teeth. Many of us are in the habit of brushing our teeth a certain way every morning and every evening. This would be a healthy habit.
On the other hand, you may be in the habit of lying on the couch every evening watching TV and eating junk food. This would not be considered a healthy habit, but it may be a habit you like.
Now, think about this. Your health care professional tells you your blood pressure is elevated. You don’t want to have a stroke or a heart attack. You realize to prevent these you will need to make some changes in your life.
If you want to make changes that actually last, consider changing your habits. Pick out one to start out with; just one, or at most, two. Studies show that making too many changes at one time can be overwhelming and cause you to give up.
Don’t give up! Learn how to do it right this time and make changes that work for a lifetime.
1. Think about what habit(s) got you in the shape you are in. It may be that you are overweight, or your blood pressure, cholesterol, and/or blood sugar is high. Or it may even be that you are having financial or relationship problems. Take some time and think about how you think this happened. What do you think it will take to change things? If it is your health, perhaps you need to lose some weight. Or, you may need to start taking your medicine regularly. If it’s financial, perhaps you need to spend less money. If it is your relationship, you may need to communicate in a different way. For the purpose of this article I will stick with making health changes. It is important for you to understand that your financial situation and your relationships can affect your health.
2. Do it for the right reason. Before you pick out the habit you think you want to change, dig deep inside you to discover “the reason” you want to change. You may think it is because you want to look better. That reason hasn’t shown to be very strong for many of us. Who doesn’t want to look better? Most all of us have wanted to lose weight at some point in time. If that reason worked, we wouldn’t have our epidemic of being overweight and obese. What has been shown to work is to have a personal reason. It is not unusual for people to make changes after a health scare. Many women will make changes because they realize if they don’t, they may not be able to enjoy or even be there for their children and grandchildren. Men make changes because they want to be healthy enough to feel like they are contributing to the home or community in some way.
3. Decide what you want to work on. For example, if it is that you want to manage your blood pressure, you may need to lose weight. There are many habits involved with losing weight. You will most likely need to eat differently and be more active. Look at your eating and exercise habits. Do you eat too much? If you are like many New Yorkers, you may eat out often. When you do, do you make healthy choices? Do you eat and/or drink too much? Are you active? What one or two habits are you willing to work on?
4. Work on your goal for at least 21 days. Once you have been doing this for that long, you have a new habit.
5. Start again at #1. Add another one or two healthy habits to your new one(s). Every 21 days, replace another unhealthy habit to your new healthy habits. Before you know it, you’ll have a new life.
Here’s an example of how to make a plan, change your habits and change your life for a lifetime.
- I am overweight. It is because I eat too much at night. I skip meals, and then I get so hungry I eat too much, especially at night. I am also not very active. I do walk to the bus and back, but that’s about it.
- I want to lose weight because I want to remain active. I want to remain active so I can live in my own home and independent.
- I will work on my eating and activity.
- Eating: I will not skip meals. I will eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and have a small evening snack.
- Activity: I will walk farther, by getting on and off the bus one stop farther from my house and from my office.
- I will do the above for 21 days.
- Decide again. Congratulations! You are eating more regularly, moving more, and losing weight. It is now time to go back to #1 and decide what you want to add to your new healthy habit(s). It may be that you still need to lose more weight. That’s fine, what one to two habits will you work on now? Decide and go down the list.
Additional pearls of wisdom:
- There will be temptations to go back to your old habits. Remind yourself it was those habits that got you in trouble. Why would it be any different now?
- Fast weight loss equals fast weight gain. The way to lose weight and keep it off is one-half to two pounds/week.
- If you fall off, don’t be hard on yourself and don’t give up. Get right back on and pick up where you left off…
EnJOY!
Joy Pape is a Registered Nurse and Diabetes Educator who specializes in weight management, diabetes education, and healthy living-Body/Mind/Spirit.
Joy s -l-o-w-l-y lost 50 pounds and has kept it off over 20 years.
Joy Pape, RN BSN CDE WOCN CFCN FAADE
EnJOY Life! Health Consulting, LLC
130 Barrow Street, Suite 213-West Village
212-933-1756
