New year, new you. It’s the phrase we’ve all heard a few too many times at the beginning of each year when people have big plans for changes in the upcoming year. And let’s be honest, after the year 2020 has been for most of us, I’m sure this is a phrase we are going to be hearing a lot! One of the big goals/plans people have for themselves is to lose weight and get in shape. And this always sounds like a great plan, but it seems we always see it fail after just a short amount of time. We’re then left wondering where we went wrong with our plan. But it’s not always that we did something wrong, It’s more so that we didn’t find the way that works best for us when it comes to our goals. So going into the new year with our new goals in tow, it’s important that we find different options, when it comes to our nutrition, that works best for us and allows us to not only reach our goals, but to maintain them as well.
Set Attainable Goals
One of the first mistakes that most people make is that they set goals for themselves that are challenging to meet. While we do need and want some goals like that, that are bigger picture goals, we also need some smaller, more attainable goals along the way. Having these smaller goals will be like stepping stones along the way to help us reach those big goals that we have. Setting these smaller goals, and attaining them will also help give you the motivation to keep going and work towards that big, long term goal that you have.
Drink More Water
In one of my past blog post I’ve mentioned how water can help us out in several different aspects when it comes to our diet and health. In addition to all of those benefits that water provides us, it is also an easy first step in the right direction when it comes to our nutrition. You will find that simply by adding more water into your diet, you will begin to feel more energized. We can easily add more water into our diet by doing something as simple as buying one of those water bottles that has the marks for where your water intake levels should be for every hour. Another option would be to drink a bottle of water at every meal, and try and drink 1-2 bottles of water between meals.
Find What Foods Work Best For You
Most of us have a general idea of what foods we should or shouldn’t eat , but do we know which of those foods work best for us? What I mean by this is, do we know what foods we eat that make us feel like a million bucks and what foods we eat that make us feel like we just got over a terrible hangover? Everybody’s bodies are different, and run better on different types of foods. So while one person can live off of a higher number of carbs and protein and a lower amount of fat, you might find that you work and feel better on higher amounts of fat and protein with a low amount of carbs. Neither diet would be considered a “bad diet”, it’s just what works best for that individual’s body. So being able to find what types of foods work best for your body, and then creating your macros based off of that, can be a game changer for you. This can take you from dreading having to start a “diet”, to looking forward to actually getting to eat foods that you know will make you feel amazing.
Try to Create an Eating Schedule
I know we all live busy lives, so creating something like an eating schedule sounds like an impossible task. When I say create an eating schedule, I don’t mean we have to eat at the same exact time every day, but we do want to try and find times that we can eat around that same time every day. Eating around the same time every day will help our bodies know when they are and aren’t going to be fed. This helps us because our bodies are smart enough to know they need to start holding on to those nutrients we give them when we eat, and they know that they will be receiving more later on. This also eliminates the factor of our bodies not knowing when they are going to be fed, and therefore holding on to anything and everything we eat. This is why when people say they don’t eat but still aren’t losing weight, it’s because their bodies hold on to basically everything they eat because it doesn’t know when it will get fed again.
So this whole ‘new year, new you’ phrase might be a little easier to attain than you first thought. All it takes is starting off with small baby steps, and steadily progressing up to bigger steps along the way. You’ll find that once you start finding options that work best for you, the rest of your weight loss goals will begin to fall into place without you realizing it. The key is to start small and work your way out from there.
Want to start the new year off on the right foot? Schedule your free 20 minute phone call with one of our coaches!
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