Sandi Kaplan, MS, RD, Associate Director, Clinical Development & Support:

Let me start with a simple fact about me: I’m opposed to New Year’s resolutions. Any time I mention this, people stare at me in amazement and ask me why. The answer is simple – I spent over a decade of my adult life setting New Year’s Resolutions only to give up on them by January 15th. In fact, I think my personal record is an unimpressive January 23… Like most humans, I enjoy continuing behaviors that I am good at and New Year’s resolutions don’t fit into that category – if they did, they wouldn’t need to be resolutions in the first place.

Just because I dislike New Year’s resolutions doesn’t mean I live an unexamined life. I do pay attention to what’s working and not and I do work hard on making changes in the right direction. However, I do it in a way that helps me to be successful, rather than annually hitting my head against that New Year’s resolution brick wall.

So here are a few of my strategies for making sustainable changes that don’t require a special holiday to start:

Strategy #1: Remember, New Year’s Eve is not a magical time for starting new behaviors.
It’s more important to take into account your personal circumstances when you’re considering behavior changes. If, for example, a family member is in the hospital, or you are about to move, you may want to consider delaying the process or starting with a really small change.

Strategy #2: Tap into your inner motivation
Studies show that people who are internally motivated are more likely to be successful making a behavior change than those operating on external motivations. Internal motivation just means doing something for yourself, rather than doing it for others. Examples of internal motivation are health, personal values, principles that matter to you, and even curiosity. Examples of external motivators would be doctor’s orders or your spouse nagging you to do something differently. For many of us, including me, changing a behavior is motivated by a mixture of internal and external factors. There is nothing wrong with having your initial motivation for change be kicked-off by an external motivator, such as advice from your doctor. But it can help increase the chances of making a change permanent if you get in touch with the things that really matter to you.

I’ll share a personal example. I used to be a late night snacker – eating chips while checking email. My initial push to decrease evening snacks happened because I couldn’t stand to see the scale go up a few pounds (this was my external motivator). But I tapped into my inner motivation to make healthier choices (putting down the chips) when I focused my personal value of having energy in the morning. I like to jump out of bed and greet my family with a positive attitude. And that’s hard to do when I’m sluggish from too many chips the night before.

Strategy #3: Find a friend.
Social support is really important too.I have a 5:30am workout buddy and our workouts three times a week would be far less consistent if I was not picking her up on the way to the gym. Receiving support from others and spending time with others who share the same goals as you can be very beneficial. Research indicates our behavior is affected by what those around us are doing. If you’re going out for dinners with people who drink a lot of wine and order desserts, chances are you will too. In these situations, it can be helpful to share your health goals with others and ask for the support you need.

Strategy #4: Get real
I think my biggest problem when I was setting New Year’s Resolutions is that they were far too ambitious. Absolute goals like “I will never overeat again” or overly aggressive goals like “I will lose 30 pounds by the end of January” are just a recipe for failure – they’re not realistic or achievable. So, instead, think about your plans to change as baby steps that you can sustain in the long term. Each small positive change you make will improve your health if you can keep going with the behavior.

Final word:
This year, shred those New Year’s resolutions and start with a couple of changes that you feel excited about making. Before you know it, you’ll be building on your successes and will be well on your way to a healthier lifestyle.

Happy 2011!