Geschatte leestijd: 4 minutenAre you already going through that same (mental) list again? Do you feel that sense of “Here we go again”? Are “exercising more” and “losing weight” once again at the top of your list, just like every year? Then, first consider why good intentions often quickly fail. Maybe it’s time for better resolutions.
Better Resolutions
Just like for the Christmas season, I also have to write the obligatory piece about resolutions. You know, things like setting realistic and time-bound goals, calculating your nutritional needs, and so on. Often, it’s the perfect plan for the perfect body. But what if you’ve tried that for a few years already? What if you just want to enter the next year healthier? If it’s not about having a beach-ready body but simply about a healthier lifestyle?
There are, of course, many people who have an instinctive aversion to the concept of New Year’s resolutions. There’s something to be said for that. To “completely change course,” you need the necessary motivation and discipline. Often, it’s those “rock bottom” moments when motivation suddenly peaks. Those painful, confronting moments when you realize that things really need to change. Moments when you’d rather play “Eye of the Tiger” and see your journey to your dream body play out in fast forward.
Unless it’s because of the holiday eating, such a moment usually doesn’t happen by chance on January 1st. Moreover, the New Year itself is just a moment. What provides that extra motivation when February comes?
On the other hand, you could also argue that any moment is a good time to make improvements in your life. If the New Year provides an extra push, great. However, try to avoid one important pitfall.
One Habit at a Time Instead of the Perfect Plan
If your resolution this year is to participate in a fitness or bodybuilding competition, then this article is not for you. If you have a six-pack on your list, then this article probably isn’t for you either. I assume you’ve already proven to yourself that you can muster the necessary discipline to stick to certain patterns of nutrition and training. If not, then your resolution could turn out to be quite a challenge, and you might be reading this article again next year.
This article is for people who repeatedly attempt to adopt a healthier lifestyle but never succeed. The common thread throughout this article is to take it step by step, one habit at a time.
Your way of life is a collection of habits. Your diet is a collection of habits, as is the amount of physical activity you engage in. When, for example, we say we want to lose 15 kilos, we often try to address all those habits at once. “Go to the gym four times a week and consume 2500 kcal per day,” you calculate. Every meal is adjusted, and your usual routine is disrupted four times a week to work out. If you stick with this long enough, you may see results relatively quickly. However, if you’re someone who struggles with motivation and discipline regarding training and diet, you’re almost doomed to fail.
Actions need a certain time and frequency of execution to develop into a habit. How long that takes is difficult to determine. In a previous article, I referred to a study that found it takes an average of 66 days to turn an action into a routine if performed daily. In this study, 82 participants were allowed to choose an action or activity to develop into a routine. However, there was a big difference in the time it took for the different participants, ranging from 18 to as much as 254 days.
Developing an activity into a routine is crucial in, for example, the difference between going to the gym for a few weeks in January or not being able to do without the gym six months later. So, the number of changes you make is not as important as how long you maintain those changes.
A risk of ‘the perfect plan’ is that you abandon it altogether if you can’t fully implement it anymore. A point I’ve made before in the context of New Year’s resolutions but would like to repeat here. Starting with a single activity with a high success rate offers a much greater chance of success. Any form of extra exercise that you think you can easily fit into your routine is suitable for this. Only when this activity has become a routine do you choose the next point of improvement. When it comes to healthy eating, for example, you can choose to adjust one meal at a time. For example, by starting with a healthier breakfast and only adjusting lunch when you can’t live without your morning oatmeal. Whether this takes a month, two months, or a year can vary from person to person. However, it’s not a bad idea to assume at least one month. In practice, you’ll find out for yourself how much effort it still takes you to stick to your new habit.
Another advantage of this approach is that the likelihood of positive reinforcement is much greater. Maintaining a single resolution gives you a feeling of success. You’re doing well, and that prompts you to do more. This works mentally very differently than feeling exhausted and starved from schedules you can’t maintain, making it still feel like failure.
This gradual way, by this time next year, you might still not have the body you really want. However, you’ve managed to make some important improvements to your lifestyle. For example, you adjusted a meal every two months, so eventually, your entire diet looks different and still feels normal. Perhaps you’ve come up with an activity for every day of the week to get more physical activity.
Something you can build on, if necessary.
