Happy New Year! January always garners record sales in the health field. There’s a typical cycle of the “eat all the things” mentality of December, followed by the remorse and guilt in January, which leads to all of the resolutions to diet, exercise, lose weight, and get healthy. Most businesses in the health field expect January to be their cash cow, and tap into this emotional low to boost their sales.
I’m here to counteract that. I am here to tell you that it is ok to indulge. It’s ok to eat goodies. It’s ok to enjoy your favorite treats. And if you overdid it over the holidays, that’s ok, too. Own it. Make your informed observations about how it went, how you felt at the time, how you feel now. Learn what worked and what didn’t, then move on.
I have an influx of clients now who are experiencing the “holiday remorse” to various extents: guilt, melancholy, regret, even self-loathing. They are feeling like they “let themselves go” or just went on a wild rampage of eating. They can’t believe how much weight they gained or how “they got fat” due to their “irresponsible” behavior.
Breathe! Take a step back.
It is ok to indulge! It is ok to enjoy life to excess sometimes!
So now, on the other side of the party, when it’s time to pay the proverbial piper for our decisions, we’ll just do what we always do: observe without judgement, learn from the experience, and formulate a plan for what needs to change and what to keep consistent.
We’ll talk more about making plans for next year when the time comes. There are ways to “maintain don’t gain” over the holidays; those that joined my program were very successful, and some even improved their health, achieved goals, lost weight, lost inches, and felt better by following along with me and my group! For now, though, let’s look forward. Let’s talk about making health decisions that will serve you long term, rather than obsessing over crash diets and overly intense exercise and a starvation mentality in hopes of losing the few extra pounds or the sluggishness that comes with overeating, or the “food baby,” or the inflammation . Let’s focus on developing a lifestyle plan that can serve you over the course of many years, one that is do-able and sustainable and yes, even enjoyable!
Where to start? Well, first my usual caveat has to be reiterated: there is NEVER one single plan or approach that works for everyone. The key to formulating your plan is that it needs to be YOUR plan. Not someone else’s. Not something that’s in a book or a program or a DVD or YouTube or social media. It needs to be an individualized plan that is made up of food choices and movement choices and supplement choices and emotional choices and social choices and spiritual choices that are right for YOU, that address YOUR needs and goals.
HOWEVER, obviously that won’t fit into a blog post. So here’s a general guideline with some quick suggestions to get you started. Take what works, leave the rest, and tailor what speaks to you into a definable goal with a definable approach on how to reach it. And if you just have no idea where to start, or what to do, or if you have a general idea but need to flesh out the details- whatever you need- big or small, I’m here to help! Reach out HERE.
First: diet. I hate that word. It has come to mean an overly restrictive way of making food choices that are typically unhealthy in the long term and meant to be a short term way of eating with a set end date. And then what? You go back to old habits that weren’t serving you? Ugh. First and foremost, start your new health journey with a nutrition plan. A good starting point is to use the 80/20 rule. 80% of what you consume is whole, unprocessed foods that are clean (no chemicals, additives, preservatives, etc.). The other 20% are foods that you know are not the best choices, but you want them anyway because they’re yummy or pleasurable or enjoyable.
Don’t go through life saying that you can never eat brownies again, or have a set period of time where you absolutely cannot eat a certain food. This year’s trend appears to be a “dry January” where many people are abstaining from alcohol for the month to “be healthier.” I wonder what their February is going to look like! Buy your stocks in alcohol companies now, people: sales are going to skyrocket in February!!
I’m also not a fan of “cheat meals” or “cheat days” or anything that’s “cheating.” There’s such a negative connotation to that word. To me, it means you’re doing something sneaky, something that’s not allowed, something “bad” or unacceptable. It’s no surprise that so many of my clients have emotional baggage to clear when we formulate their lifestyle plans!! So nix the cheats. No cheats. For my 20% foods, the ones I need or enjoy or choose to eat because they’re yummy, I call them my “earned indulgences.” I put in the work, I ate my veggies, I meal planned, I prepped, I cooked, I was responsible, so my reward is that I get to eat whatever I’m craving for that 20% of the time. I have earned it. There’s no guilt in enjoying a donut, having some ice cream, or- you all know my faves- Mom’s delectable butter cookies! I savor each bite and marvel at how much happiness I can feel from that buttery goodness. YUM! And it’s a positive thing- not a cheat, but an indulgence. An extra bit of goodness that I deserve, that I enjoy, that I have earned.
Next is movement. Not exercise. One of my professors called this “fun sweaty activity” and I just love that term. You do NOT need to join a gym (unless that’s your thing and you’re happy there and you enjoy going and you’re consistent- then have at it!). You do NOT need to go to exercise classes or stream content or buy videos (unless that motivates you and you like those activities). First decide what fun sweaty activity makes you happy. Do you like to garden? Incorporate more walking, squatting, bending, poses, stretching into the process. Can you play outside with your kids? Take a brisk walk with your dog? Does lifting weights sound fun? What about adding some extra movement into household chores (going up and down stairs, carrying laundry baskets, doing lunges while vacuuming)? Biking? Hiking? Yoga? Martial arts? While walking a 5K today (because I had a whim to do that instead of my scheduled work out), I just discovered a fencing academy that’s a few blocks from my house. What a unique opportunity for movement!
Lastly, and unfortunately these are usually last, or not incorporated at all, are the emotional and spiritual components of your plan. Are you an emotional eater? No diet will work for you if you are not addressing those emotional roots. Do you have an unhealthy relationship with food or your body or exercise or your health? Nothing will change if those roots are not addressed. When formulating your plan, identify your road blocks and how you will address them when they arise. What are your triggers for emotional eating? How can you avoid or eliminate them? And when they show up, how will you redirect your behavior so you don’t fall into that trap? If you are prone to sabotaging your progress, what is the trigger? When or how does it start? What can you do to identify that before you are triggered? When it arises, how will you redirect your behavior?
How will your plan incorporate spiritual wellness? How does the Lord or your chosen higher power fit into your plan? How does Nature fit in? What about serving yourself and serving others? How can your belief system foster your success?
If you need a jump start, my January group is going strong, and we’d love to have you! We started planning in December and launched January 2nd, but we are going for 30 days, so there’s still time to opt in! Details are HERE.
And if you need a little push, or some hand holding, or if you don’t even know where to start, I am here for you! Reach out HERE and let’s get you going!
Blessings,
Melanie
