Thursday, January 05, 2017
When it comes to setting New Year’s resolutions, most people shoot for the moon. We tell ourselves that this will be the year we’ll give up carbs, go running every morning, become a vegan or quit drinking.
Inevitably, three weeks later, we find ourselves right back where we started. What gives?
When it comes to health goals in particular, all-or-nothing goals ― which are usually based on unrealistic expectations and don’t leave any wiggle room ― are a setup for failure.
Only 8 percent of people actually keep their New Year’s resolutions, according to one commonly cited statistic. There are many reasons people can’t stick to their resolutions, from setting too many of them to getting derailed by small failures. Setting overly ambitious and restrictive goals ― like quitting sugar when you haven’t already been making small changes to improve your diet ― is one major cause of failure. While you might initially feel inspired and energized by setting blowout goals for 2017, the luster of these resolutions fades quickly when we realize how difficult they are to keep.
Small, incremental lifestyle changes may feel less sexy, but they have a much greater chance of creating real change. According to Dr. Roberta Anding, a registered dietician and nutrition professor at Baylor College of Medicine, moderating your resolutions could be the difference between giving up in February and creating a lasting lifestyle change.
When resolutions are too ambitious, we struggle to change our habits, become discouraged when we fail and ultimately give up altogether. So instead of making hard-line resolutions this year, Anding suggests increasing your chances for long-term success by approaching your health goals as a “reset.”
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