New Year’s Mindset Shift For Your Health Goals in 2025
I think we get stuck in this weird wheel of impending shame year after year –– even though we think we are starting with good intentions. Often it’s thought like, “I want to change,” or more often, “I want to lose weight.”
This may inherently seem reasonable. However, it can be complicated. If you are one to make resolutions, especially this one, I encourage you to dig a bit deeper and do some more back-end thinking. You’ll be surprised that asking yourself these questions will change your mindset for 2025:
Why the change?
Why is weight loss the solution to whatever issue you’re dealing with?
What has impacted you to make this decision?
What have you tried before that you liked or didn’t like?
In a year from now, how do you want to feel?
What does feeling healthy mean to you?
What are other areas of your life that could use a tune-up that affects health and weight, such as sleep, mental and emotional health, physical activity, etc.?
What changes might help the most?
What changes are possible within your current lifestyle?
What changes aren’t within your control?
There’s a lot that goes into maintaining health and weight that’s not necessarily intuitive or straightforward for everyone. I encourage you to be curious about these questions or what you are noticing about yourself as the new year approaches and see what comes up.
This is not to deter you from possible weight/fat loss goals, but rather to focus your goals on something that might be more substantial, impactful, or qualitative than the number on the scale. This can be anything, such as feeling stronger, clothes fitting better, having more energy, sleeping better, less irritability, less anxiety, better stress management, improved labs, better bowel movements, less acid reflux, increased muscle mass, moving forward in therapy, less food preoccupation, etc.
Another topic of conversation that comes up a lot is that patients are way harder on themselves than others, often lacking compassion for themselves. I see this a lot when patients think they should be able to do all this nutrition and meal planning, mental health work, physical activity, etc. by themselves with no help whatsoever. That’s simply not true. And the reasoning for it seems to be wrapped in layers that are not something I am solely qualified to uncover.
But what I can say is that healthcare providers, mental health providers, and other service providers such as personal trainers, are all out there for a reason. You do not need to go it alone
I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!
If you are interested in working with me, please reach out and book an appointment. I also have complimentary 15-minute consultations to see if we’re a good fit.