New Year’s resolutions sometimes involve a lifestyle change that, by March, often leaves us frustrated—perhaps because of the way we set our goals.
Now, at the dawn of 2017, even though it is a new year, the stories are familiar: new gym memberships reach their peak, and after the holidays when food and drink are abundant, many people choose to adopt frugal regimes to “combat” the extra pounds left by the season, but which have also been accumulating for some time.
Among the most common New Year’s resolutions is the literal goal of losing weight. How is this achieved? One might answer with the classic pair: diet and exercise. So, people sign up for gyms, take advantage of discounts on sportswear, research the latest diet trend (currently, juice detoxes are in fashion), and with great determination, start dieting and exercising because the goal is to “lose weight.” By the fourth week, the most determined are still hungry, irritable, but perhaps motivated by the pounds lost during this period of monastic frugality.
By April, almost no one remembers their resolutions. Those who have managed to integrate new lifestyle practices not just as a resolution but as a habit are the ones who keep their promises. Why do we get frustrated and why can’t we stick to what we promised? Firstly, because for a behavior (eating “well,” exercising and/or doing sports regularly) to become a habit, humans need more than just willpower.
Social psychology scholars know that “where there’s a will, there’s a way” is not an absolute truth. Humans need symbols to function with repeated habits: to sleep, for example, one ritual is to put on different clothes than we wore during the day. The ritual of waking up during the week with a shower or a cup of coffee depends greatly on repetition but also on symbolism. And in the case of frugal diets, there is neither a body that can withstand them nor a sociocultural context that promotes them.
So, is there no hope? There is, but sometimes we need to pay attention even to how we set our goals. “I want to lose weight”—for what? Because I suppose that if I lose weight, I might someday look like a Victoria’s Secret model or the latest Hollywood heartthrob with well-defined pecs? To be more attractive to the opposite sex and thus be more loved? To achieve a model of perfection—a perfect job, perfect family, perfect body—and thus be more socially desirable? Let’s ask ourselves why we set this goal in a way that eventually leads us to failure. It is scientifically proven that the weight lost on a diet is regained in the long term. Perhaps, then, the main goal should not be framed as weight loss, but rather as the greater enjoyment of our food in a holistic sense, considering not only health but also satisfaction and pleasure. As a result, the external pounds will decrease and smiles will increase—something no starvation diet will ever provide.
Twitter: @Lillie_ML
Originally published in El Economista
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— This article was originally published in Spanish by Liliana Martínez Lomelí. Translation generated with AI from the original text.