The Cycle of Resolutions

It’s that time of year again! Time to take assessment and get down to the business of making some serious promises about changing for good “this time”. The new year is always a great excuse for starting over again and to work on changing whatever habits that have been revived in the past year. It’s the time for resolutions!

The Promise You Make

New Year’s Resolutions, made at the beginning of the year, are usually quite lofty goals. Weight loss is at the top of the list for many people, and it’s a very visible goal - it’s quite obvious when we fail and quite visible when our efforts succeed. So, with all the people starting over with their weight loss plans and making serious attempts to lose weight, why is the adult population in nearly all parts of the world getting fatter? And down to a more personal level, if you have you made resolutions to lose weight year after year, has it lead to success?

Chances are if you made a resolution to “lose weight”, it may not last for long. One reason is because it is a very general promise, so it doesn’t give you much to focus on. This year, instead of promising just to lose weight, try making a resolution to make a very specific change in your habits that lead to weight loss instead. Some examples are:

• If you dine out frequently, focus on making lower fat choices, or not overeating at restaurants at least 50% of the time.
• Make a promise to cook one or two lower fat meals every week.
• Resolve to eat 3 or 4 servings of vegetables at least four times a week.
• Promise to do at least 5-10 minutes of walking or other physical activity at least 4 times a week.

The difference between these resolutions and the resolution to “lose weight” is that these are much more specific. Notice something else: Each of these goals can be achieved by following them three or four times a week rather than every day. With these resolutions, you can build on your success, and increase the frequency of your habits in a realistic way.

Will Power?

Making a promise to yourself can lead to new resolve and can renew your spirit with the energy it takes to begin again. But it takes some skill to put the resolution into action. Many people call this “will power”. Many people say, “I just don’t have the will power to stop drinking (smoking, overeating)”. How often have you said this about yourself? The problem with the concept of will power is that it sounds like it is a personality trait that you either have or you don’t, rather than a skill you can learn.

The other problem with “will power” is that it doesn’t account for the fact that many people have great success making changes in one aspect of their lives, while changing another is very difficult. Have you heard people say, “I stopped smoking, but I just can’t seem to do what it takes to lose weight (exercise, finish school, etc). So, it seems most people have the “will power” needed to make certain changes, but some habits are more challenging, leading people to think ,“Well, I may have some “will power”, but I need more.”

The last problem with the idea of “will power” is that it doesn’t recognize that people can be very successful with making a change in certain situations, and have complete failure with the same habit in a different situation. An example of this is that many people are really good at not eating high calorie snacks when they are around other people or when they are busy, but when alone or when bored, the resolve to avoid high calorie snacks disappears!

So, If It’s Not Will Power, What Is It?

Forget about will power. Instead, think of “skill”. A skill is the ability to do something well, and is learned over time, with practice and with learning. To achieve your goal of a healthy body weight, you don’t need will power. You need to learn specific skills to make this happen. The specific skills associated with weight loss include:

1. the ability to make low fat, lower calorie eating choices
2. learning to make physical activity a regular part of your life
3. learning new ways to cook healthy foods you enjoy
4. learning the skill of identifying “true hunger” and not eating past a feeling of comfortable fullness
5. identifying difficult situations (your personal temptations) and minimizing those events that lead to overeating

By learning new skills and practicing them often, you will become proficient and the outcome will be the body weight you want to achieve.  Making a New Year’s Resolution is just the beginning! The most important part is not making the resolution, but putting your words into action with a plan that is realistic, achievable, and teaches you the specific skills you need to be successful. The ability to learn these skills is within all of us.

 

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