You Don't Need a New You in the New Year.
“New year, new you” is the mantra that has surrounded the changing of the year for the past few decades. New Year’s resolutioners are ready to make changes in their fitness, attitude, relationships, health, and more. Ready to shed their old self, for a new and improved self.
You don’t need to shed your old self
Why do we feel the need to start over and shed our old selves? What was so wrong with our old selves?
Your old self (the you that you were in 2023) taught you a lot of valuable lessons and got you to where you are today. Just because diet culture is pushing you to be a skinnier version of her, and self help books are telling you to be a kinder, more compassionate version of her, doesn’t mean that she needs to be left behind in 2024.
Don’t listen to the rest of the world that you need to be emerging from the cocoon of 2023 as a beautiful butterfly. You were already amazing to begin with. Putting our past selves down doesn’t help us start to make improvements.
Don’t start off 2024 with diet and exercise burn out
As someone who has been in the fitness industry for quite a few years at this point, I have seen it time and time again. Someone comes into the gym gung-ho about making a change and transforming their body. They start out SO hot, completely flipping their diet upside down and following whatever they think will give them the fastest results, they hit the gym 6-7 days a week and by the end of January they have completely burned themselves out and we don’t see them again.
The holidays can be tough, and it can be a time where nutrition and workouts can be completely thrown off. But just like any other time of the year, if you go to a diet that is restrictive and unhealthy- you will NOT be starting off the new year in the right way. It’s not going to set you up for success. You are way better off to start with small, maintainable habits.
Ask yourself these questions:
How much water have I drank today?
Have I slept at least 7-8 hours?
Have I gotten at least 50 grams of protein today?
Start there. Increasing your water, sleep and protein intake can be realistic ways to jumpstart your nutrition focus in the new year and get you back to pre-holiday routines.
The same can be said for exercise. If you were working out 0 days a week, then start working out 6 days per week, you will burn out by the time the January Resolution magic wears off. Find a realistic, obtainable workout schedule and build up to working out regularly. There is nothing wrong with starting with 2-3 days a week of workouts. You give your body time to get used to a new routine, and then gradually increase your frequency of workouts.
Don’t burn yourself out in the first month of the year. It’s not setting you up to have the 2024 you deserve!
You don’t need a new year to make positive change
You don’t need a year to be a better human being. There is no correlation between the changing of the year, and change within you.
At any point in the year, you are allowed to:
Grow
Evolve
Leave toxic relationships
Make new friends
Get a new job
Learn your worth
Make a change
Be a kinder human
Prioritize your relationships
Be whoever the hell you want to be
Don’t wait until a new year to make a change. Do it whenever you want!
