I haven’t made resolutions for quite some time. They were always the same – eat more healthily, work on my sleep hygiene, take vitamins every day, get more exercise, declutter. I always went into the new year with a bang, put too much pressure on myself to get it all done, got frustrated and gave up, feeling like a failure as I went back to my old habits.
In 2017, I somehow ended up changing my whole life without realising it. I didn’t have a clue I was doing it because I did it in such small steps I did not notice. I have written about it before here.
I, like many others, gained weight during Covid. Working from home and living during a very stressful time (though Sweden did not have a lockdown) led to a lot of snacking on my part. I am a boredom/stress eater. And wearing comfy clothes to work from home meant forgiving elastic waistbands, so I did not realise I was expanding. When I did realise, I first cut down rather than out. Then I cut out snacks and after-dinner treats. It was painless. I still have small pieces of chocolate after dinner but I don’t munch sweets all evening. I lost the 5kg I had gained and it has stayed gone. I would never have survived any kind of super-restrictive diet. Now that I have cholesterol problems I am watching what I eat, but not to the extent of it being hard for me.
I was a lifelong yo-yo dieter/exerciser until I hit 30 and then I realised it is not sustainable.
So if you are trying to make changes, try little ones first, and then add onto them once you have formed habits. If you don’t walk every day, don’t stress; just walk when you can. If you eat a giant slice of cake, enjoy it with no guilt. Just don’t do it every day. Do as much as you can. Don’t let a slip derail you. It’s a journey. Sometimes success looks like this…
Good luck!
This is very good advice, I was going through trauma in the early 2010’s and that led me down a deep dark spiral to mental breakdown. I tried therapy of different kinds for years until one doctor referred me for a different kind of therapist. I was told not to look at the big picture because that was stopping me from doing anything. Instead focus on little things (as you say here) because that way you can have a small win, and that will spur you on for more small wins in the future. Janet, I have been following your blog for some time now and you always give such good advice.
Thank you so much for this comment Dave!
I am the same as you: I stress eat and I tend to be drastic and then everything flies out of the window. You are right: implementing small changes at a time is definitely better in the long run than drastic changes, but it’s hard not to see progress right away!… Right now, I’m decreasing what I eat. I’m entering a new chapter of my life as a woman, so I have to be careful with the amount of food I eat because my metabolism is nowhere near as active as it used to be. Good luck to you as well!
So very true. And for us, holidays and meetings with chums don’t count 😉