Another year means another round of New Year’s resolutions.
Whether you vowed to get in shape once and for all this year or decided to stop biting your nails, the way you frame your goals for 2021 could potentially set you up for failure.
“It’s easier to drop out or walk away when you set goals or resolutions that are vague,” psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert told Business Insider. “When it’s really detailed and specific, it’s harder to walk away from it.”
According to U.S. News & World Report, 80% of people will have failed to keep their resolutions.
With health, fitness and weight loss being some of people’s most common New Year’s resolutions, Eat This, Not That consulted several doctors about the worst ones they can make for 2021. Here are a few:
Vowing to “eat healthier” without any specifics
It’s simple to say you hope to consume a healthier diet this year, but without a clear definition of what that means to you, it can be harder to make it happen.
Julia Kirouac, Holistic Nutritionist and Founder of Nud Fud suggests that people “keep it simple! I suggest focusing on eating only real food and remove/watch sugar,” she told Food Network Canada. By doing that, you can narrow down exactly how you’d like to make your diet healthier.
Restricting lots of foods to lose weight
Losing weight doesn’t have to mean cutting out whole food groups.
“I would never tell anyone to eliminate an entire food group, especially carbs,” registered dietitian Keri Gans told Women’s Health. “These are our body’s fuel. Our brain only functions on glucose, and carbs break down into glucose.”
Relying on vitamins to get healthier
Just because you’ve read about the benefits of supplements doesn’t mean you should take them to achieve your health goals. You should consult your doctor or dietitian, according to WebMD.
“I get some concern when I see people take one of these and one of those, just because they’ve read somewhere that a supplement is helpful,” Linda Van Horn, a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University, told the website. “Imbalances can easily occur, and you may not be aware of it.”
Hoping to look like your favorite celebrity
It’s easy to look to movie stars and decide you’d like to have a figure similar to theirs, but doing so can leave you less than inspired.
Body-image researcher Taryn A. Myers, Ph.D., who is department chair of psychology at Virginia Wesleyan University, told Shape magazine that “in general, viewing or posting images can really make us feel worse about our bodies, and this effect may be amplified for celebrity photos.”
Celebrities also have access to dietitians and personal trainers that most people may not be able to obtain.
About the Author
