Setting Yourself up for Success with New Year’s Resolutions
With a new year comes aspirations to improve existing habits. The LSU Performance Nutrition team offers some tips to keep in mind while creating your 2021 New Year’s Resolutions:
Set SMART goals
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Timely
(Example: I will jog for 20 minutes 3 days a week for 2 weeks.)
Avoid setting body size-specific goals (body weight, circumference measurements, etc.
Focus on what you can control – including more fruits and vegetables each day, cooking at home instead of eating out, drinking more water.
By setting weight-specific goals (i.e. “I will lose 5lbs by February 1st”), we may be discouraged when we don’t see results or engage in unhealthy behaviors to reach our goals, like severely restricting food intake.
Set goals that ADD something versus REMOVING something
“I will eat 2 additional servings of fruits and vegetables this week” as opposed to “I won’t eat carbs at dinner.”
These tips will help you set reasonable and sustainable goals, ultimately leading to permanent lifestyle changes to better your health.