The entire point of new year’s resolutions is to create goals that align us with our vision of our highest self.  We want, through creating visions, to solidify a path to a better version of ourselves.

This often takes the form of weight loss or fitness, but it doesn’t have to.  For many, emotional work, business goals, or other processes are effective goalposts that flesh out the year.

Most people don’t stick with their resolutions very long.  Most of the time I don’t think this is because we don’t have the follow-through to make it a year, I actually think the problem is in the goal setting itself.

We need to be really intentional about self-awareness with our goals.  While our ego may want to lose twenty pounds, that often isn’t what our soul really craves, and so it’s not where our focus goes.

If we make goals that are incompatible with our true inner needs OR which don’t take into account very real trauma that we need to overcome FIRST, we are doomed to not be successful.

What do we REALLY want?  Most of the time it is not a certain number of pounds lost, but instead a more confident self-image, a feeling of vibrancy and energy, or peace of mind about our health.

When we get to the root of what we really want, weight loss may be a part of the process, but it usually isn’t the main intention.

Another problem with goal setting tends to be in the haphazard way we plan.  We simply say “I want to lose weight” instead of being more specific.  Specificity is the solution for almost any goal you want to really achieve.  If weight loss is part of your goal, for example, then you need to be intentional about finding out how much and calculating a realistic amount of time to lose that weight.

In order to do that, you need to know more than what a basic home scale can tell you.  You need to know your muscle mass, your basal metabolic rate, a picture of your overall metabolic health, and a sense of what foods are inflammatory or healing for you.

Once you know this, you can better calculate a goal for yourself that won’t have you binging and restricting until you eventually give up.

I want to be clear: I am a nutritionist and much of what I do involves helping people find a healthy weight for their body.  BUT, and this is HUGE, weight loss is almost never about weight loss and if we don’t have a clear picture of what we want to achieve with weight loss, it becomes a vanity goal that lacks substance.

You’re far better off creating a vision of how the future you might feel internally as well as how they might look and then working with someone who can help provide you with the tools and knowledge, as well as the realistic steps and timeline to manifest that person.

You do have the ability inside you.  For some of us it is easier than others, but as you set your intentions for this year, start by asking yourself why these goals are on your list, and what they really say about you and your relationship with yourself.