New Year, New You: Are New Year’s Resolutions Hindering Your 2025 Dreams?

New Year New You

Don’t we hear this saying every year?

I love the inspiration of new beginnings that a new year brings. It provides us with a sense of a fresh start.

I think setting goals and ambitions is so important for working towards our dreams.

However, aren’t we tired of the forever cycle of re-inventing ourselves? Each year, we are flooded with messages encouraging us to strive towards this idea of needing to be our ‘perfect’ selves. Health and wellness marketing preys on the messaging that we need to lose weight every January.

Aren’t we tired of this message that we need to turn our lives upside down and inside out every year to be ‘happy and healthy’?

I’m sure you won’t be surprised to know that physical health and weight loss is one of the most common goals set each new year.

Now, don’t get me wrong, if losing weight is your goal for 2025, there is nothing wrong with it.

My concern is with the black-and-white thinking that comes from setting vague and ambitious goals e.g. healthy eating. A recent study by Osscarson and others found that without an action plan and support most New Year’s resolutions are unsuccessful.

So my question to you is: What if we didn’t start with a blank canvas or a ‘fresh start’ for goal setting? What if we started with our realistic lives as they are today and chose small and achievable goals to work towards our dreams? Sounds a bit boring right? Health and wellness marketing doesn’t like boring, it's hard to sell.

What if we worked SMARTer and not harder towards our health goals?

So, how do we set realistic and achievable goals? Let me introduce you to SMART Goals.

These are goals which are:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Time-frame

Let’s go through an example of how to create a SMART goal from the goal of ‘healthy eating’.

‘Healthy eating’ is a broad goal that looks very different for everyone.

Let’s make this goal SMARTer (see what I did there)

Healthy Eating could include:

• More vegetables in your diet by adding a side salad at dinner three times per week.

  OR

• Meal prepping breakfast once a week to have food to eat on your commute to work.

  OR

•  Eating a meat-free meal twice a week to include more plants in your diet.

See how these goals have now become actionable. Building healthy habits can be made easier when your goals are small, achievable and actionable.

However, sometimes life gets in the way and goals can be put on the back burner. It’s important to have someone to support you and hold you accountable.

I would love to be your support person.

As a Dietitian, I would love to support and guide you on your health and nutrition journey.

Book a FREE 15-minute discovery call so we can discuss how I can support you in creating SMARTer nutrition goals that align with you and your lifestyle.

Ash x