New Year Resolution [2022 Calorie Goals]
Do you make them?
It’s that time of year again, it happens every 365 days. We reflect on the past year, we think about all of the things that we wish we’d done differently and we make a commitments to do better the next year. We squeeze into jeans and convince ourselves this how they fit 12 months ago. Then we sooth our discomfort by saying “well it was a pandemic and, and and….”. This year will be better. This year, I’m going to make a commitment to workout, eat healthy and stop drinking so much wine. Sound familiar? Ok, me too.
This year WILL be better but with the right commitments and realistic milestones. The shotgun approach of making commitments to change habits we’ve had for a long time typically don’t work well for people. We are busy, we are tired and sometimes we realize in the midst of our immediate “course correction” our habits bring us some level of comfort. So now what? One step at a time is “what”. I don’t make New Years Resolutions, I just try and make a resolution for the next day or the next week. If I make it, then I go to week two. I love this article by Franklin Covey on keeping commitments. They suggest not making too many goals, not being impulsive and treating your goals with the same commitment and respect you’d give to someone else you care about.
Here’s one of the on-going goals I make for myself.
I count calories…sometimes. In my opinion, this is one of the most valuable resources when it comes to weight management. I used to do do Half-Ironman races, I would exercise A LOT and I thought I could eat anything but I never saw my body change in the way I thought it would. I downloaded the Lose It app about 10 years ago and that was my first go at counting calories. I was really surprised and the number of calories I was eating and the number of calories I was burning. I was still eating more calories than I was burning. I was realistic with my caloric intake goal and when I exercised I could usually get 200-300 additional calories into my day so I never felt hungry. I counted everything! The handful of Cheezits, if I ate small piece of candy, I counted all of it. When I first started, I didn’t even make any dietary changes, I just counted what I was eating. Then, I started making small changes like cutting out the candy, processed sugars and increasing protein. Let me be clear about something….counting calories is not the only way, it’s one tool in the toolbox. It’s an option to create awareness for yourself.
Here are my tips:
Week 1-4: Make a goal of counting calories for an entire day, 3 days a week. This is it, this is your only goal. (Pro-tip: if you are one that says “I’m too busy” then eat the same breakfast, lunch and snack on your 3 days so it’s pre-counted. Now you are only counting dinner and exercise on those days)
Week 5-8: Make a calorie goal. A REALISTIC goal. The Mayo Clinic suggests 1-2lbs per week. I personally opted for 1lb a week. If things are going well, add a 4th day of counting calories to your week.
Week 9-12: Now it’s time to add a 5th day of calorie counting and start making some different food choices if you haven’t already. For example, decreasing processed sugar intake, ensuring you are eating enough protein, reducing foods that have unhealthy fats in them. You get the idea.
As you can see from my suggestions above, I personally think it’s a better system to make smaller changes over a longer period of time. I also think it’s perfectly fine to be imperfect. Pizza and beer still exists, so does birthday cake and eating out. Don’t deprive, allow yourself those days if you want them and then get right back into your healthy habit the next day. Just count the calories (even the bad food calories) so you know what you are doing. You’ll see, it becomes easier to make better food choices when you are committed to counting.
If you want a serious burner, try the Hybrid class at DriveTrain Fitness. It’s 1/2 Lagree (resistance on the Megaformer) 1/2 Spin Interval training on Stages SC3 spin bikes. It feels REALLY good to add a 500 calorie workout into your day.
Good Luck!
Lindsey