[Guest post] How To Keep Our New Year's Resolutions

I came across Dr. Laura Van Schaick-Harman's advice while searching out what other health professionals recommend to successfully make changes. Perhaps not the typical information you'd expect a dietitian to research, but as I have mentioned before, dietitian's jobs have quickly evolved. With Pinterest and Instagram and countless blogs about healthy eating, a dietitian's job has evolved from telling people what to do, to motivating and supporting them to make the changes they have decided upon.

Most of my clients know what they want to change but struggle with how to make the change and seeing the barriers that get in the way. With the New Year almost here I thought it appropriate to share some wise advice on how to keep those resolutions we are inclined to set.
Although I am not a big advocate for setting New Years resolutions and certainly discourage anyone from setting unrealistic resolutions, I think a healthy dose of advice on how to keep those that we set is always welcome.

Dr. Laura has created an amazing resource called "The 3 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Trying to Change a Behavior or Habit". It is FREE and you can sign up to receive it here: http://changebehaviorsnow.blogspot.ca/p/meet-new-you.html

Here is Dr. Laura's advice on "How to actually keep our New Year's Resolutions?":
(you can find the original blog post here.)

This is a question that is asked each year, usually by the end of January. New Year's Resolutions are essentially goals that we set for ourselves to accomplish during the year. These goals, however, may not be met and are set to be the following year's resolutions. Why does this happen? How can we achieve our resolutions?

In my practice, we spend the first session or two, and then as often as needed, discussing long term and short term goals/objectives. These are different terms, to be discussed below. Often, a New Year's Resolution is a long term goal (e.g., "I want to loose weight," "I want to have a good bathing suit body," "I want to get a new job," "I want to quit smoking") and it does not reflect the certain attributes that are needed to actually be successful in attaining this goal.

If we want our resolutions to be kept, we need to have an understanding of what healthy goal setting looks like. Long term goals are the broad aspirations that we would like to achieve later in the future. They are the end destination in a particular area of our lives. Long term goals may be large or small. Short term goals or objectives are the steps on the ladder to get you there. We don't jump on the roof of a three story building from the ground without climbing each step on the way up (unless we are Spider Man or another superhero-which is highly unlikely). For example, a long term goal may be for a child to learn how to wash their hands independently. Now, this may seem like a simple task and too simple to be a long term goal. However, take a moment and think of all of the objectives that need to be accomplished before the child achieves the long term goal of washing their hands independently. If you need some help, here are just a few of the steps on the ladder: walk to appropriate sink, turn water on, wet hands, pump soap, lather hands (both hands, between fingers, palm and outer hand), rinse soap off, turn water off, and dry hands. The child needs to be able to complete each of the objectives in order to achieve the long term goal.

Why am I writing about hand washing steps? If we have a resolution to go to the gym and loose weight and we have never been to the gym before, we are not likely to start going 4 times a week and maintain this schedule for long. If we haven't been looking for a new job, we are not likely to get hired by a company with a 50% salary increase by January 15th. There are objectives and short term goals that need to be accomplished first.

Goals need to be measurable (go to the gym 2 times/week for 30min each time), attainable (look for a new job to earn more money, not win the lottery), specific (target one behavior-eating, drinking, or exercising, not "be healthier") and realistic (learn 2 new healthy dinner recipes, not become a famous gourmet health chef on TV within 1 month).

When we set long term and short term goals, it can be helpful to make sure that we have enough steps on the ladder (objectives), a realistic long term goal, and that we make sure each goal is measurable, attainable, specific, and realistic.

Let's not confuse goals with dreams. You can dream about winning the lottery or becoming famous. These just don’t make for good resolutions or goals.

Consider revising your resolutions so they have enough short term goals and are measurable, attainable, specific, and realistic. It's never too late. If you noticed, I noted earlier that goals are discussed as often as needed throughout treatment in my practice. Goals can and should be revised whenever needed. Circumstances, desires, feelings, and finances change. Be flexible with your goal setting and enjoy climbing the ladder!

What are your revised New Year's Resolutions?

Dr. Laura offers free resources, tips, and help with behavior problems on her blog: http://meaningfulpsychservices.blogspot.ca/
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Here is a little insight to Dr. Laura's advice on the 3 biggest mistakes to avoid when trying to change:

What is your potential?

 
I love a good comparison, especially when talking about nutrition.
I've lost track at the number of times I've described the body's metabolism and energy levels as being like a wood burning stove.

I encourage clients to imagine the many eating habit changes they want to make as bricks in a wall. This has helped many realize that using a ladder (i.e. small, sustainable steps) to climb up that wall is easier than trying to jump over it in one bounding leap.

One analogy that I am currently working on describes one's potential to manage their weight. This is because everyone has a different potential or ability to change their weight. This potential depends on their current lifestyle (and past weight loss attempts). The many aspects to weight management are exercise, food (portions, type, timing of meals, etc), relationship with food, stress levels and sleep. Many people forget that all of these influence weight and lifestyle choices- it is NOT JUST about food and exercise. The idea that weight loss happens when calories in are lower than calories out is dated, overly simplistic and misleading.

If you find yourself struggling with wanting to change an aspect of your lifestyle but end up doing nothing, it can be useful to step back and look at what can be changed. Wanting to change your routine with exercise, food, stress levels or sleep is well and good. Unfortunately, wanting to change is only one of a few necessary steps. Asking yourself what aspects are at their maximum potential and which ones have room to grow is important.

For instance, a recent client believed that they had to do more exercise. However, she was already struggling to include a 30min walk in everyday. She was frustrated because she felt that her current exercise was not enough but is not able to dedicate more time to exercise. She could continue to feel frustrated about this discrepancy and eventually give into the thought that if she can't do more, she might as well do nothing. OR she could look at the other aspects of her lifestyle and see if another pillar still has potential to change.

Reaching maximum potential could be either an actual limit or a psychological limit. You may have more time available to dedicate to, say, exercise but are unwilling or unready to dedicate that time to exercise.
The next step is to ask yourself, of the ones that can be improved, which aspect am I ready, willing and able to change? (If you want to read more about being ready, willing and able to make changes, go here).

Although it can feel frustrating that one pillar of your health has reached its maximum potential, it can also feel like a relief for some people. Struggling through frustration and disappointment to make a change that is just not possible at this time is a waste of energy. Rather than continuing to struggle (and get nowhere), move on to another health pillar to improve and revisit that one later. Sometimes my job as a dietitian includes giving my clients permission to maintain their current routines rather than constantly trying to do better. If you'd like to read more about maintaining your weight, read this

Using this analogy of maximizing areas of your health can also be used to increase motivation. Reminding yourself about all the changes you have already done will give you the boost you need to continue improving to reach your potential. A bit of honest cheerleading can do wonders to get the ball rolling.

I want to change! ...I think...

Whether you want to make a change in your eating habits or help someone else do so, it's no secret that having motivation to change is key. What is often not spoken about are the 3 parts of motivation: being ready, willing and able to change.

HOWEVER, wanting to change is not the same as being ready to make that change, being willing to do what it takes to change or having the ability to make concrete changes.

Being able to change or having the ability to change means you have the needed skills, resources, and confidence to make the change. For example, imagine a person who wants to eat more vegetables. Their ability to eat more veggies can be enhanced by knowing where to buy them, having the resources to buy them and how to prepare them. Giving tips on knowledge to help people be able to change used to be the main tasks of dietitians and other health professionals however that role has evolved.

Being willing to change is intertwined with the importance you place on changing—how much a change is wanted or desired. For example, imagine this person knows where to buy veggies, has the budget to purchase them and they have a few good recipes on how to prepare vegetables. They just don't find it worth all the effort to eat more veggies.

Being ready to change is usually the final step in which you decide to change a particular behavior. It involves making this change a priority in your life. Let's continue with the example of our friend who wants to eat more vegetables. They have all the info needed to have vegetables available to them more often. They have decided that its worth the effort to prepare them and eat them more often at meals. Being ready to make the needed changes a priority is the last step. Making this change and the necessary actions a priority such as taking an extra 5min at supper to cook the veggies rather than read the paper or prepare veggies for tomorrow;s lunch rather than watching tv, would be an example of being ready.

Usually, motivation to make a change evolves naturally in the order of ability, willingness and being ready- contrary to the well known saying!

So next time you feel stuck trying to make a change to your habits, remember to explore your ability, willingness and readiness to make that change. If you aren't, why not chose a different habit to change and go back to that one at a later time? It could save you energy and be more efficient.