What’s your New Year’s Resolution? Is it to lose weight or begin an exercise program? If you’re like most of us, a fit, healthy body is something you may want to work towards this year. In fact, it’s probably something you wanted to work towards last year as well as the year before. So here’s a question. Why is it that we start the New Year with the best of intentions just to fall short within the first few weeks?

One reason is due to the fact that almost ninety percent of what we do each day is the result of ritualistic habit. From the way we brush our teeth to which shoe we put on first is something we barely need to think about. We’ve done it a certain way for so long, it’s deeply ingrained within us and minimal effort is required to get the job done. To test this, just start your day by putting on the other shoe first and you’ll see how different it feels!

Well, eating and exercise habits work the same way. The way we eat, the reasons why we eat, the food choices we make are all habits which have been formed over time. Some of those habits may have lead to an unhealthy relationship with food where we’re eating to combat boredom, fatigue, anger, sadness or loneliness. For some of us, the portion sizes we take or the degree of fullness we leave the table with are habits we’ve formed as well. For others, the way we handle weekends, parties or holidays are the result of habit. Finally for others, the tastes we prefer are the result of habit as well. For example, we may have gotten used to the flavor of foods which are highly sweetened which leads us to crave and expect that type of flavor.

While many of these habits lead to weight gain and frustration, we stay with these behaviors because they’re so familiar. They may not serve us well but because we barely need to think about it the behavior continues. So, what can you do if you want to finally make a New Year’s Resolution that lasts?

In my next blog post I will share with you the plan of action to keep you on track with your New Year’s Resolution.

Debi “The Mojo Coach”
www.TheMojoCoach.com
www.AskTheMojoCoach.com