Mindfully Written

Amber Erickson: Denver Content Marketing Strategist & Freelance Health and Lifestyle Writer

How to Keep Your New Years Resolution: This Year Can Be Different

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new years resolution - new years eve fireworksDid you set any new year’s resolutions this year? We’re now several days into the year, those who set resolutions often fall into two camps:

1) Those who are still gung-ho, motivated and building new habits

2) Those who have forgotten, lost interest, decided to quit or didn’t really intend on doing said thing anyway

To help you either stay motivated or re-commit to your resolutions, you need to start at the source and ask yourself some potentially tough questions.

Why Did you Set a New Years Resolution Anyway?

This is probably a hard one. Take some time to sit down with your list of resolutions and reflect. What caused you to choose them? Are they really your goals or someone else’s? Do you really want the outcome associated with the resolution?

For example, let’s say your resolution this year is to lose 15 pounds. In theory most people would say they’d like to lose some weight, but do you really? Are you willing to put in the work to make this happen? Are you just trying to do this because you think your partner will like you more or you will look better come bikini season? If you aren’t really wanting to lose the weight or don’t have strong motivations (like health, confidence, etc.), you will not succeed in keeping your resolution.

Refine Your New Years Resolutions

Once you understand where your motivations for the resolution(s) came from, you might need to refine them to be more realistic. The best resolutions are:

Achievable – Setting a goal that you will never achieve might keep you motivated, or it’ll lead to quitting. The best goals or resolutions are ones that, with the right amount of effort, are able to be achieved.

Appropriate – Your resolution must be something that is appropriate to you, your lifestyle and your health. Don’t set out looking to run a marathon if you have a bum knee. You’ll get injured and fail. Really consider the flaws in your resolution. Maybe right now isn’t the right time to start. Consider doing a mid-year resolution or a March resolution.

Consider your list and make sure you didn’t choose too many resolutions. Start with one or two, depending on their complexity and perhaps add in more components later. Trying to do too much from the outset will lead to failure. Creating new habits takes 21 days or so, depending who you ask, and trying to create too many habits as once is just too much to focus on.

Hold Yourself Accountable

Now that you understand your resolutions and have refined them to be appropriate and achievable, you need to hold yourself accountable. Most people’s resolutions barely make it through January. Some are too hard, others don’t have the time to devote but I suspect most failures come from lack of accountability and follow-through.

Changing habits and setting personal goals is not easy. It take dedication, discipline and determination. If you’re lacking these, it’s not going to happen. You can’t just say, “my resolutions this year is to make more money,” and then keep doing what you have been doing. You have to plan. You have to act. You have to take matters into your own hands.

For those with fitness or health goals, you might start by joining a gym, finding a workout buddy, searching for a 5K run plan online, planning weekly meal charts, researching exercises, etc. These all take effort. Some take money. All take planning and commitment.

For real life changes, you have to want it. You have to put in the work. And you have to stick with it. Change does not happen overnight.

Create a Plan and Celebrate Success

First create a plan. It can be basic and simple or robust and specific, depending on your personality. Perhaps you start with weekly check-ins or a list of monthly to-do’s. If, at the end of the year, you want X to happen (weigh 15 lbs less, make 10% more, etc.), start at December and work backwards. What has to happen every day/week/month/quarter to achieve your resolution? If you want to lose 15 pounds, perhaps 1 pound per week is appropriate. That means you’ll need 15 weeks. Map out those weeks, including exercise days/times and nutrition planning. Perhaps you sit down every Sunday to plan the coming week. Put workouts in your calendar to help you do them. Perhaps you meet with a nutritionist a couple times. Each resolution will require a different plan.

And importantly, celebrate your successes. If you’re the unmotivated type (like me), consider a weekly “prize” for your efforts. If you made it to the gym three times and didn’t splurge on ice cream or dessert (for example), have one simple snack or go out to a movie. Don’t make it so grand that you set yourself back and make sure the prizes are worth it to you, but be sure to take time to acknowledge your hard work and sacrifice.

Finally, don’t be too hard on yourself. We all falter, we all fall off the wagon. The beauty is you can always recommit to your resolutions. After all, the best day to take action is today.

Now it’s your turn! Did you set resolutions and if so, how is it going? Share your resolutions in the comments and if you have strategies that work, share them for your peers to see.

{Photo Credit: Colin Tsoi}

The Scary Truth About Sugar

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picture of homemade cookiesSugar. Our favorite treat comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, from sodas and ice cream to cakes, cookies and candies. We all know the common sources of sugar. We know when we’re eating sugar…or do we?

The problem with sugar is that nowadays, it’s in everything. And if you’re not careful, your sugar intake will be sky-high, leaving you wondering why you can’t shed those last few pounds (despite plentiful exercise) or your doctor is warning you of pre-diabetes. But I don’t eat that much sugar, you say. The amount of sugar you’re actually ingesting could come as a shock. Let’s break it down.

First of all, what’s the risk, right? Sugar, often known for it’s ability to create cavities and obesity, is more than that. It’s a substance that creates inflammation and inflammation creates problems all over the body, from stomach aches to heart attacks. Sugar isn’t just a yummy food additive, it’s addictive, toxic and downright bad for us. Eating sugar is just like anything else, you get to choose how you want to live your life. But, if you’re concerned about health and wellness, exercise regularly and aim to live the healthiest life you can, ditch the sugar. All of it.

What is Sugar?

For our purposes, we’re talking about added sugars, not the stuff found in fruit and other natural sources. We’re talking about the stuff found on ingredient lists under the guise of sugar, cane sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), evaporated cane juice, fructose, maltose, malt syrup, honey, molasses and fruit juice concentrate. We’re mostly talking about refined sugars, which means they are processed.

Where Sugar Hides

Sugar hides in some of the strangest places – in foods that have no need for sugar in them. If you’re wanting to minimize or eliminate sugar from your diet, be prepared to spend some time in the store, reading labels and looking for better alternatives.

This article was the motivation for this blog because I believe most people don’t think to look for sugar in all these places. One of my biggest pet peeves is pasta sauce. I shop at a co-op, a tiny co-op at that, so all real estate is prime and usually, only one or two options exist. However, there are six or so pasta sauces, all of them with sugar in them. How frustrating is this?

If you don’t want to read the article, the eight sources of refined sugar are:

  1. Barbeque sauce
  2. Nutrition bars
  3. Tomato sauce
  4. Flavored yogurt
  5. Fruit juice
  6. Grown-up breakfast cereal
  7. Vitamin drinks
  8. Muffins

Any surprising items on that list?

The tricky part here is that you might think these kinds of refined, added sugars only come in unhealthy foods, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Just because it says organic or natural doesn’t mean it’s healthy. The general rule is anytime something is processed, it could have some sugar added to it. And just because it’s organic doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

Better Alternatives to Refined Sugars

Cutting down on sugar comes two-fold. You could either focus your attention on the things we know are loaded with sugar (desserts, drinks, etc.) or focus your attention on the hidden culprits (processed or canned foods, carbohydrates, etc.). Ideally, let’s do both! But let’s be realistic, sugar is addictive and cutting it from your diet is not going to be easy. Choose the route that is easiest for you to stick to. Spend some time with that transition and slowly try to cut back on other sources of sugar. Any little bit will help your body (and mind) function better and who knows, you could see dramatic changes.

If you love sweet stuff and loathe the idea of cutting out refined sugars from your diet, especially sodas and pastries, look for alternatives.  The internet is a great resource for finding recipes. Love banana bread? Find a version without sugar. You will learn to love the subtle sweetness of the fruit and other natural ingredients. Honey, molasses, coconut sugar, stevia and fruit are amazing sweeteners, with some practice and the right recipes, you can learn to live without sugar. That’s not to say we all don’t fall of the wagon from time to time, but getting off sugar is hard and it is a process.

The benefits of getting off sugar are potentially bigger than I’m going to get into, but from personal experience, I can say going sugar-free for two weeks left me feeling lighter (I lost 5+ pounds), slimmer and more energetic. I didn’t have the mid-afternoon crash and after just a few days, I didn’t have many cravings.

It’s less about food restriction and more about taking control of your health. It’s not about being extreme, it’s about making choices about what you put into your body. It’s about breaking old habits and mindless patterns and choosing to nurture your body – your health.

Have you tried reducing sugar? How’d it go? Or are you thinking about trying but need some help? Post your thoughts, experiences and concerns in the comments.

{Photo: jazzijava}