New Year’s Diet Resolutions

Goodbye 2021, hello to a New Year and decade: 2022! It’s time to bid farewell to bad habits and start thinking about your health and diet. January is a great time to set new goals for yourself and even start a diet.

After all the luxurious Christmas food has been eaten, we often feel like we need to immediately start a diet or training programme. The truth is, what makes us gain weight is not what we do between Christmas and New-year, but the other 358 days between New-year and Christmas.

Many of us jump on the bandwagon of the latest fad diets at this time of the year for a quick fix, but the statistics highlight that many of us don’t stick to them, and even those that do, a lot of these “celebrity” diets have not been medically studied over the long term. Quick weight loss from specialist diets often has more to do with malnutrition than healthier eating.

Here are our top 10 tips on sticking to your goals:

1. The best thing is to tell someone, say it out loud. In fact according to psychologist Robert Cialdini’s book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion¹, if other people hear you commit to something, you’re more likely to follow through. So go ahead and post it on social media and talk to all your friends and family.
2. Keep motivated. Find a friend who has the same idea as you and encourage each other, you can help keep each other motivated. Or turn to the internet, there are lots of forums and community groups to join where people help keep each other on track.
3. Don’t cheat, you are only cheating yourself, but allow for flexibility.
4. Think about how much you time you spend thinking about your body and health. Realise your body is the most important thing you own, and learning about how to look after it is crucial to a long, healthy life.
5. Do your research. Diet, health and body image is a huge focus of marketing campaigns, and magazines designed to promote a body ideal. There’s plenty of information online but make sure that any “studies” are medically recognised and backed up by scientific fact.
6. Recognise your bad habits. Admitting your bad habits will help you stop them!
7. Plan, set goals and be realistic. If you are over-ambitious and start missing your goals it will sap your motivation and you may slide back into those old habits.
8. Say goodbye to the scales! Health and fitness is not measured by how much you weigh. Fat converts into muscle which weighs more. Overall health is measured by energy levels, cardiovascular health, mental wellbeing and alertness - you don’t see these on a scale.
9. Eat fresh. Fat-free snacks, breakfast bars, and protein bars are not considered “health foods” because they’re packed full of addictive, chemical and preservative-laden products that trick our brains into thinking we're full. Bananas are a great source of energy and 100% natural. Go for natural alternatives to get your energy boost!
10. Stay rested, a good night’s sleep will give you the energy you need to stay motivated. And lack of sleep can cause weight gain by raising appetite-stimulating hormones such as cortisol.

¹ Source: Robert B. Cialdini. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. (New York: Morrow, 1993)