Can New Year’s health resolutions backfire?
Many of us are welcoming a new year with resolutions to eat better, exercise more and lose some weight. While better health, diet and exercise goals are always a positive step, there is a chance we could be sabotaging by aiming way too high and starting way too fast. Dietitians warn that drastic changes can sometimes be detrimental to not only our physical health, but also our mental health and could eventually backfire.
Experts say a big mistake is starting a starvation-style diet the day after New Year’s.
“You may be prone to overeating, and if you feel like you slipped up during the holidays or ate too much, you may give up and just keep doing it,” says Allegheny Health Network (AHN) lead dietitian Julia Maher. “You may be gaining weight at that point, or you might go the complete opposite, yo-yo and restrict your calories or throw your goals out entirely. Then it’s a cyclical thing where you feel almost shame, like I’m not doing the right thing.”
Maher says this isn’t sustainable and is setting yourself up for failure. “If you’re restricting calories, you might not be getting the nutrients you need to have the energy you need,” she explains. “You get into a binging then restricting pattern and it’s exhausting.”
She says using January first as a hard start date can also be problematic and creates too much pressure, which is why many of us end up breaking our New Year’s resolutions halfway through January.
“A slip-up or even several, is not a failure of your entire eating habits,” Maher added. “We have three meals a day, seven days a week for the rest of our lives, so one meal or a couple meals is negligible in the grand scheme of things.”
Slow but steady
Rather than jumping headfirst into an unsustainable crash diet or vowing to exercise every day of the week, Maher recommends taking a slow and steady approach. “It’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint,” she said. “I like to tell my patients to start small. You’re not going to go from being sedentary to running a marathon overnight.”
This same approach applies to dietary changes and exercise. Rather than vowing to make a drastic change – like cutting out carbohydrates completely – Maher recommends taking baby steps.
“Let’s say you have chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes. You have your protein and your carbs and your veggies. Instead of taking things away, let’s increase the ratio of other things,” Maher said. Rather than not eating potatoes at all, she says try a small portion of them and replace those carbs with more green beans, which are lower in starches and sugars. “That way, I still have a little bit on my plate that I enjoy. I don’t want to deprive myself of delicious foods, but I’m getting more of what I need.”
Another trick is to eat lean protein, vegetables and fruit first and save starches or indulgent foods for last since you’ll already be full.
Get moving
For exercise, try setting a small, very attainable goal, such as walking 30 minutes today or a couple of days per week. You could start even smaller if time is precious, resolving to exercise 15 minutes here and there.
“Start with walking two to five minutes today, and that way, if you get to that five minutes you may want to add more,” Maher said. “If not, at least you will have hit your goal.”
By starting with small, achievable goals, you won’t suffer a mental letdown or disappointment by not meeting those goals. However, on days when the weather is bad, you had a busy day at work or one of the kids is sick, don’t be so hard on yourself if you don’t make the goal. “Something will inevitably come up,” she said. “You have to take your kids to practice, you can’t make it to the gym, whatever. Be flexible with your goals.”
With colder air and less daylight in winter, it can be hard to get motivated to exercise. If you’re not a gym person, the internet provides many resources in the form of free workout videos – everything from walking in place to weightlifting to yoga. Maher’s go-to fitness sites are YouTube and Fitness Blender, which offer many workouts online for free and are broken into 10-, 15- or 30-minute routines.
“They have so many free exercise videos that cater to all different types of interests, fitness levels and time constraints,” Maher said. “If you only have 10 minutes to do something, they have a video for that. If it’s just a short workout, I know it’s just 30 minutes of exercise, but I think I could meet that goal.”
She also said you don’t have to be dripping in sweat to benefit from exercise and – again – to start small. “You can just have mindful movement because it makes your body feel good,” said Maher. “If you’re pushing too hard, you’re probably not going to feel great doing it and that means you might be overexerting yourself. You’re going to think, wow, I don’t want to do this again. I don’t want it to be one step forward, two steps back. You have time, so start small and you can add on if you’re feeling good.”
Finally, if you are struggling with weight, dietary or exercise issues, Maher said one good resolution is to talk to your doctor.
“If you do feel like you’re struggling with your eating habits, or maybe you’re dealing with a chronic illness or a food allergy that affects your nutrition … talk with your doctor or find a registered dietician,” she said. “Weight is such a multifactorial issue. It could be an emotional issue, it could be a metabolic issue, it may have nothing to do with eating too much or too little. It’s not one size fits all.”