Year after year, Stephen Box of Sugar Hill committed to major changes in his life — always kicking off on Jan. 1.
He’d lose a ton of weight and get in the best shape of his life. But like many people who make grand declarations, most years he couldn’t keep it going. After a couple of months, he would throw in the towel.
That’s the way it went until he took a dramatically different approach to his ambitious goals about a decade ago. He was able to lose 80 pounds and has kept it off since.
“In the end, it wasn’t one big change. It was more like small moments that built up over time,” said Box.
His approach agrees with advice that says the key to forming new habits is having a plan and setting small, realistic goals that build up over time: Set your sights on progress, not perfection.
The beginning of a new year can feel like a clean slate — and the possibilities seem endless. Many people — roughly 4 of 10 Americans — begin the year with at least one goal or resolution, according to a 2022 poll by YouGov. So while some will abandon by the end of January, nearly a third of resolvers drop out by the end of February, according to The Forbes Health/One Poll survey.
Let’s face it. Keeping New Year’s resolutions is hard. Any change can be difficult. And resolutions are often big — too big. And people want results fast — too fast. But here’s some good news. Even for those who have already fallen off the wagon, experts say it’s not too late to refresh your resolve.
“Instead of new year, how about — every day is a new day?” said Dr. Laurence S. Sperling, a professor in Preventive Cardiology at the Emory School of Medicine who helps patients at risk of cardiovascular disease make changes to lower their risk and improve their health.
Sperling believes New Year’s resolutions “in theory” can be a good idea If they offer a chance to reflect on years past and the year ahead, they can lead to meaningful changes.
The day to start tackling your goals can be any day — a birthday, a meaningful milestone, any of the 365 days of the year, he said.
“It could be any day of the year,” he said. “I mean, what is so special about New Year’s?”
For Box, the right time for him came at least a couple of months after the New Year a decade ago. Working in retail at the time, he was reviewing security camera footage and was jolted by seeing someone he didn’t recognize behind the counter.
“But then, I realized it was me,” said Box, who now works as a certified health and wellness coach.
Credit: cus
Credit: cus
That was an epiphany for Box: He realized his approach of trying to lose weight and improve his health was not working. While he would always hit the ground running with a new diet and exercise, it was not sustainable. The transformation would only come with a much more gradual approach.
He continued to eat fast food, but made small changes over time – going from eating a double cheeseburger with an extra-large order of fries to a single burger and replacing fries with a baked potato. He started eating out less and cooking more at home. Rather than forcing himself to run on a treadmill, he found cardio activities he enjoyed, including swimming. He still eats hamburgers and pizza, but is more likely to make healthier versions of them at home.
A step-by-step approach to goals is also recommended by Sperling, who has served as one of 20 top national dietary experts for U.S. News and World Report to evaluate and rank America’s popular diets.
Credit: Ben Gray
Credit: Ben Gray
“Somebody may say they want to lose 100 pounds,” he said. “That’s an aspirational goal. But to get to 100 pounds, you have to lose one pound at a time. I often talk about the concept of stairstepping. So I say, let’s set a goal of 10 pounds, and then plateau for a while, let your body get used to that for a while, and then we’ll set a new goal. And as you’ve stepped down each time, you will have a greater chance of maintaining that for the long term.”
Sperling also recommends an accountability buddy. It can be a friend, neighbor, or doctor, but the idea is to have someone there to help you push through the tough times, someone with whom you can share what’s working and what’s not.
Technology can help. But again, goals need to be realistic. For someone already walking thousands of steps a day, aiming for 10,000 steps can be reasonable. For a person who is sedentary or takes very few steps in a day, start with a more modest goal of 2,000 to 3,000 steps each day, and gradually move toward 10,000.
Last spring, Karen Cooksey of Cumming joined a Weight Loss for Life program at the Forsyth County Family YMCA. Cooksey, who was 60 and retiring, wanted to improve her fitness level to be able to hike at National Parks with her husband, who was also retiring. She was highly motivated and unlike fleeting goals of the past, she said the program provided key components for actually achieving them this time around: support, striving for progress rather than aiming for perfection, and making the changes enjoyable.
She started by walking on a treadmill for 30 to 45 minutes, going about three miles. A treadmill at the gym had built-in screens featuring real-life trails around the world. She and her husband also started doing a 4-mile Indian Seats trail in Cumming. Some days, they added a 5-mile loop to hike about 9 miles. Support from her fitness coach helped her stay on track but also helped her work through the ups and downs of a journey of wellness.
Credit: custom
Credit: custom
She has lost some weight but said her main goal was to develop a healthy lifestyle, strengthen her muscles, build her stamina, and live life to the fullest.
The program, she said, enabled her to hike several National Parks, including recent trips to Acadia National Park in Maine and Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska. She and her husband are on their way to their goal of hiking all 63 National Parks.
Meanwhile, John-Manuel Andriote, who is 65, stopped making resolutions years ago and instead adopts a new slogan every year — a personal mantra that he can call to mind, even say out loud throughout the year.
He started the practice about five years ago. This year, his slogan is “Own it!”
“It’s all about owning it in the sense of taking responsibility for, claiming as mine, proactively asserting myself to act in a way or ways that make clear I am not denying ownership or shirking responsibility,” he said.
He says his slogan is helping motivate him to go to the gym and not eat too many sweets.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Whatever the hopes are for 2024 and beyond, experts say it’s important to remember no one is perfect.
Dr. J. Kip Matthews, an Athens psychologist, says there will be the occasional “slips” along the way. It’s important to anticipate these lapses and have a strategy for how to move through them. This will help avoid the urge to just give up, he said.
Sperling agrees.
“Be kind to yourself, it’s the notion of self-compassion. Allow yourself to be human and realize it’s part of the journey.”
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