Navigating New Year’s Resolutions

January 7, 2024

Written by Taylor Molstad, M.Ed., Registered Provisional Psychologist, Risewell Psychology

The new year is upon us, and the familiar phrase “New year, new me” starts popping up in conversations with friends and family. The call to become the best version of yourself or to become the elusive ideal of "that girl" infiltrates your Instagram feed. In a world obsessed with resolutions and perpetual calls for self-improvement, where does that leave those of us who've battled with disordered eating or navigated a complex relationship with our body image? What if you have spent the last year intentionally un-learning diet culture? What about those of us on a journey to love ourselves for who we are now, without perpetually reaching for a sense of being better, more, or different? This year let’s redirect our focus to set goals for ourselves that aim to enhance our relationship with food and our body.

 Is Dieting Really So Bad?

The obsession with achieving a specific body ideal is everywhere we look —whether it's the pursuit of thinness, the quest for the "right" curves, or the latest restrictive cleanse or diet showcased by influencers on social media. Our bodies and diets are under constant scrutiny, with an increasing awareness of perceived flaws that are often nothing more than societal constructs.

The scientific consensus on diets is unequivocal: they may yield short-term results, but most individuals regain the lost weight, and the process is often associated with weight cycling and the development of disordered eating patterns. Dieting can also lead to body dissatisfaction, food and body preoccupation, and reduced self-esteem. Despite these disturbing findings, the dieting industry continues to flourish, bombarding us with promises of quick fixes and transformative results. It's a paradoxical cycle where the pursuit of health often leads to adverse effects on both physical and mental well-being. So, what do we do when we have been taught that dieting is the answer?

 Navigating The New Year Intuitively

 “I’d really love to set some goals for myself for the new year. How do I do it in a way that honours myself and my body without leaning into diet culture?”

Great question! As we move into the new year, it’s a great opportunity to shift the focus from restrictive to nurturing practices. Have you ever heard of intuitive eating?

Developed by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, intuitive eating is a mindful approach to nourishing your body—tuning in to internal cues of hunger and fullness, and ultimately, reclaiming your autonomy over food choices. Studies consistently show that those who embrace intuitive eating experience a myriad of positive outcomes such as a reduced likelihood of depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, as well as unhealthy and extreme weight control behaviours. Despite its seemingly simple premise, attuning oneself to these internal signals can be a revolutionary concept, especially in a world that often prioritizes altering our bodies over listening to its needs. Trusting our body and its innate cues may feel entirely foreign when external standards often overshadow our internal wisdom. So, where do we start?

There are 10 principles of intuitive eating, each working to help you listen to your body and remove obstacles that hinder this connection. Drawing inspiration from the principles and activities in Evelyn and Elyse's Intuitive Eating Workbook, here are some goals you could incorporate into your resolutions that don’t revolve around appearance, weight, or restrictive diets.

• Get to know your hunger: The Hunger-Body-Mind Connection
  Forget the rules that dictate how much, when and what to eat. How do you know you are hungry and need to eat? This year you could set a goal to be more in tune with your hunger and satiety cues, as they are unique to you. Approach this with curiosity and leave judgement at the door.  

  • Are you the type to get hangry? Do you experience a sensation in your stomach, or perhaps you feel lethargic and unmotivated?

  • How do you recognize fullness? Do you tend to overeat until feeling sick, or struggle to stop eating even when satisfied? What sensations let you know you are satiated?

• Respect Your Body: Showing Up With Kindness
  Your body is your home for your whole life, unfortunately, body dissatisfaction affects up to 70% of women and 61% of men (Fiske et al., 2014). What resolutions could you incorporate in your life to cultivate a relationship with your body rooted in kindness and dignity?

  • Try incorporating a gratitude practice for your body. Allow 2024 to be the year you celebrate your body in its incredible ability to carry you through life, its amazing resiliency, and the beauty in how it allows you to hold your loved ones.

  • Set a goal to shift the language you use to describe your body. Aim for neutrality and non-judgment in your self-talk. Treat your body as you would a cherished friend—with kindness, encouragement, and support.

  • Aim to discard clothing or other items that no longer fit you or your life. Lean into allowing your body to be comfortable and accepted for what it is now rather than what you want it to be.

• Find Movement That Brings you Joy: Exercise Is Not Punishment
  Instead of setting goals tied to frequency or calories, why not explore physical activities that genuinely bring you joy? Research consistently supports the idea that finding pleasure in movement is the key to sustained exercise habits.

  • Explore your preferences! Do you prefer working out solo or with a group? Do you like being outdoors or indoors? Do you like to be energized after working out or feel calmer?

  • Rediscover your playful side. What did you do as a child that brought you joy in movement? Perhaps swimming, playing a team sport, or dancing your heart out can bring you back to movement that feels fun.

  • Aspire to find variety in your joyful movement. Some find their rhythm in a heart-pounding spin class, while others discover peace in long, contemplative walks. Provide yourself with opportunities to explore what you enjoy.

 It's no small feat to move away from traditional new year’s resolutions that focus on weight loss and body transformations. Our bodies hold deep wisdom and are here for us each day working behind the scenes to keep us moving and alive. It’s high time that we start nourishing our body, rather than approaching our body punitively. Instead, approach it from a place of love, compassion, and celebration. It takes a lot of bravery to reframe the narrative and approach our bodies with tenderness. Take these suggestions as a gentle nudge, a starting point for you to explore how you can set goals that foster a positive relationship with your body, food, and movement. 

Here's to a year of gentle revolution—a quiet rebellion against the noise of diet culture and unrealistic expectations. Happy New Year!

For More Reading on this Topic:

• More Than a Body: Your Body Is an Instrument, Not an Ornament by Lexie Kite PhD & Lindsay Kite PhD

• The Intuitive Eating Workbook by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

• The Body is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor

• The Wisdom of Your Body by Dr. Hillary McBride

References

National Eating Disorder Information Centre, n.d. Dieting and weight loss: Facts and fiction. https://shorturl.at/yFH25 

Neumark-Sztainer, D., Wall, M., Story, M., & Standish, A. R. (2012). Dieting and unhealthy weight control behaviours during adolescence: Associations with 10-year changes in body mass index. Journal of Adolescent Health, 50(1), 80-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2011.05.010 

Siahpush, M., Tibbits, M., Shaikh, R. A., Singh, G. K., Sikora Kessler, A., & Huang, T. T. K. (2015). Dieting increases the likelihood of subsequent obesity and BMI gain: Results from a prospective study of an Australian national sample. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 22, 662-671. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-015-9463-5 

Pietiläinen, K. H., Saarni, S. E., Kaprio, J., & Rissanen, A. (2012). Does dieting make you fat? A twin study. International Journal of Obesity, 36(3), 456-464. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2011.160 

Bacon, L., & Aphramor, L. (2011). Weight science: Evaluating the evidence for a paradigm shift. Nutrition Journal, 10(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-10-9

Tribole, E., & Resch, E. (2017). The intuitive eating workbook: Ten principles for nourishing a healthy relationship with food. New Harbinger Publications.

Hazzard, V. M., Telke, S. E., Simone, M., Anderson, L. M., Larson, N. I., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2021). Intuitive eating longitudinally predicts better psychological health and lower use of disordered eating behaviors: Findings from EAT 2010–2018. Eating and Weight Disorders-Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 26, 287-294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-020-00852-4