How to set yourself up for success in 2024

 

It’s that time of year when it’s so tempting to ceremoniously throw all of the junk food out of the pantry, start each day with a shot of wheatgrass (🤢), and overhaul your lifestyle with the enthusiasm of an influencer on a health retreat.

WAIT!

Before you run out to purchase the latest fat-burning supplement (spoiler alert: they simply don’t work) or throw out all the enjoyment in your life, take a few moments to reflect on what habits you are currently doing well, and want to take forward.

Mindset matters.

By approaching your current healthy habits with a positive mindset, it becomes easier to make a few tweaks to any habits that are hindering your wellbeing instead of helping.


5 habits I’m taking forward into 2024 and 1 habit I’m committed to ditching:

  1. Prioritise being present: Consciously removing distractions so that you are able to focus on what’s right in front of you requires dedication and awareness. That could be putting your phone away during family time or showing up 100% at a gym class.  Last year, I volunteered at my son’s year 1 class for an hour each Thursday. Yes, some weeks it felt like ‘too much’ when work was really busy, but seeing the pride on my son’s face, getting to know his friends, observing class dynamics and appreciating just how bloody hard teachers work, it came to be the highlight of my week. It was a regular reminder to slow down, be present, and take pleasure from the simple things.

  2. Balanced boundaries: In a world where we are always ‘on’, it takes effort to switch ‘off’. Some things that help me:

    • Resist checking your phone upon waking; leave it on aeroplane mode until after  you’ve completed a workout or dropped your kids at school / daycare

    • Set time blocks during the day to focus on a particular task and ignore everything else during that productivity time

    • Block out time in your calendar for exercise and have a friend/family member hold you accountable.

  3. KISS (Keep it simple …):  Healthy doesn’t need to be hard. Don’t overcomplicate the basics. For me, dialling down expectations on what is served for dinners during the week helps A LOT. By pairing back the complexity of meals it means that you can save time, money, and actually increase the likelihood of sticking to a meal plan without falling into a great big heap by Thursday and reaching for the Ubereats app.

  4. Flexible structure: For all my clients who want to lose a few kilos, flexibility is one of the key components of adherence to a plan. Your diet doesn’t have to be perfect to be healthy (read that again).  Try this: eat at roughly the same times each day, with variations of similar foods. Why? Because you will be able to better manage your nutrient intake by not letting yourself become over-hungry, and it saves your brain the effort of wondering when / what you’ll be eating next. 

  5. Daily movement: Your body is made to move, and it’s a privilege to have limbs that work. Celebrate the ability of your body to move daily rather than lament exercise. Can you walk to collect the kids from school / pick up milk from the shop / go to the gym instead of drive? And don’t beat yourself up if you don’t have time for a 60min workout, 15min is better than nothing, so go for it! 

The toxic trait I’m done with this year:

Professional perfectionism: Paralysis by analysis has been a theme for me in my professional life; overthinking and overanalysing. This year I am committed to ditching that mindset so that I can show up more consistently for you and provide valuable nutrition info to help you make the changes that you want to see in your wellbeing.

The bottom line: 

Your diet/lifestyle doesn’t need an overhaul. You just need the right guidance and support to make some small and sustainable tweaks to your current habits so that you can stick to them this time. 

No more crash diets, boring rabbit food, or abstaining from treats (only to binge down the track). 

Make 2024 the year that you look back on as the time when you took control of your health for good.

 

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Lifestyle, NutritionCailie Fordemployee wellbeing, workplace engagement, healthy habits, nutrition, wellbeing, sleepComment