DO NOT wait until the new year to make a commitment to improve your health

The title could also be:

DO NOT wait until the new year to make a commitment to lose weight (if weight loss is your initial goal...)

Why not though?!

To be blunt, it is not in your best interest to start after January 1st.

Here are a few reasons that I have heard recently regarding why most people don’t want to commit to eating healthier and starting their weight loss journey before the new year:

1) I am either on a diet or off a diet - eating extremely restrictive and low calorie, or binging and eating whatever I want.

2) Holidays have a lot of yummy foods that I would have to avoid because they are not on my diet.

3) I don’t trust that I would stick to such a restrictive diet during the holiday.

4) What would my family think of me? I can't handle the peer pressure because my family environment isn’t conducive to healthful eating.

5) It's just easier to wait, and then "go all out".

Sure, all of those kind of make sense if you're a chronic dieter and it would be easier, but ultimately, is that type of mentality sustainable for improving your overall health?

Also, because it's easy now, you're going to make it very hard on yourself come Jan. 1 by restricting and telling yourself you can't have any of those super yummy foods anymore (for x period of time anyway)....

What happens when the next holiday rolls around and you’re still on your extremely restrictive diet? If your goal is in fact weight loss and you haven’t found balance between eating well and choosing to eat certain things that may not contribute to your weight loss goal, you will be back in the same boat. "Well I did really well for a few months, so I'm gunna cheat" ....my thoughts are always: what does cheat even mean? You're cheating on your life? Do you cheat on other things in your life? Is that sustainable?

Holidays are not a license to eat. Sure, food tastes great and should be somewhat pleasurable, but research shows that we get 95% of our taste satisfaction within the first THREE bites, so my advice to my clients while they're on their weight loss journey throughout the holidays is to take 3 small bites of those pleasurable foods to satisfy the craving, but fill up on the protein and veggies. I am personally not a huge fan of indulging and engorging myself anymore because it is far from comfortable. Eating those foods and stuffing yourself always seems like a good idea at the time, but then after 15-20 mins, you feel bloated, fatigued, and likely a huge amount of guilt.

The solution? All of that is avoidable.

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My question to you is though, which one of the top 5 excuses are you going with?

If you truly want to embrace a healthy lifestyle, for life, none of those reasons I listed should be excuses.

You aren’t going to get healthy by eating a nutritious meal once in a while, just like you’re not going to automatically be unhealthy if you indulge once in a while.

I chose to include that quote because you can replace "excellence" with "being healthy" and it fits perfectly.

My last point is, when you decide to restrict yourself and go on a diet to lose weight (and unfortunately will likely have a side effect of losing extremely valuable muscle mass), then what? Have you developed the habits necessary to sustain the weight loss? Or is all you know to either restrict or cheat…?

Don’t be in the vicious weight loss cycle for the rest of your life.

If you're ready to get away from the diet yo-yo and follow a program that not only will help you get to a healthier weight while sustaining valuable muscle mass (what you do want) and maintain it by leading a healthier lifestyle, reach out. I offer free health assessments to determine your goals, current habits, and the best plan to fit your needs.

There's no better time than the present.

Much love,

Valerie