Become a Healthier You!

New Year’s is a time to start fresh and commit to making changes to become a better you. Many of us intend on eating healthy and exercising more, but life gets in the way. We get busy, make excuses, fall into old habits and before you know it another year has passed and another 10 pounds is added on. Many of us fail at our goals because we rely on will power to be responsible for our success. We think if we just “try harder this time” then we can do it. Will power can get you started but ultimately it is never going to be enough to give you lasting change. You have to remake your life, change your environment, change your habits, change your mindset, and change you! 

Change your Environment

You cannot expect to be successful in an unhealthy environment where will power is your only defense. Many times we are sabotaged by our own friends and family when trying the make healthy choices. Have an honest discussion ahead of time with people around you about the changes you need to make to be a better you. Challenge your support system to help you succeed. Surround yourself with positive and healthy people. Having a workout partner or friend to keep you accountable can be the difference between success and failure. 

Change your Habits

We make a million small choices every day. Changing your habits is done by making it easier to make a healthy choice. Clean out your kitchen pantry and restock with healthier foods. Join a walking group, group exercise class, or recreational basketball team. Build exercise into your schedule, physically put it on your calendar, set up a reminder, and make it unavoidable. Plan your meals ahead of time to protect yourself from the temptation of going out to eat or skipping a meal. Put yourself in situations where you have no choice but to be working towards your goals. 

Change your Mindset   

When I decided to become a dietitian I found that my eating habits drastically changed. I was a college student with unlimited access to chocolate chip cookies and soft serve ice cream in the dining hall on campus, but I soon lost interest in eating those foods. It wasn’t that the cookies suddenly didn’t taste as good, it was that I had a completely new way of thinking about myself. When I thought of myself as a nutrition professional it was easy to say no to the junk. You may not be a dietitian but you can be a new healthier you. You can decide that the new healthy you doesn’t eat foods that don’t push you towards your goals. Shift your mindset from: “I gave up pop to lose weight” to instead thinking “As a healthy person I drink water because I know it has amazing benefits for my body.”  It might sound silly but having the mindset that you are a healthy person goes a long way towards making healthy choices.

Change You!

There is no better time to become a whole new you: visualize who that person is and what is takes to become them. Don’t just have good intentions; change your environment and your habits to make success unavoidable. Healthy people surround themselves with a healthy support system, healthy food, and build healthy habits into every aspect of their lives. Set yourself up for success and don’t just rely on will power to reach your goals. Change your environment, change your habits, change the way you think about yourself, and become a new healthier you.