Need a little reset after the holiday season? At WAG Nutrition, we’re big proponents of enjoying yourself and all that the end-of-year events entail. After working with over 30,000 members, we know that coming out of a celebration marathon can feel daunting. 

We’ve compiled ten actionable ways to appreciate everything the season had to offer while recommitting to your health and nutrition goals in the new year.

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10 Quick Tips to Make Healthy Choices in the New Year

1. Lose the guilt, keep the food

You can’t undo overeating by depriving yourself after the holidays. If anything, undereating perpetuates the cyclical nature of overeating, undereating due to guilt, experiencing a rise in hunger, and overeating again. Undereating also pulls any guilt around food choices into the present and may impact future decisions. Focus on healthy foods and nourish your body with plenty of protein and veggies. 

2. Use it as a learning experience

What worked well over the holiday season regarding your health, nutrition, and fitness? What didn’t work so well? Take time to reflect and use every situation—double down on what you’re proud of and adjust what left you feeling less than your best.

3. Get a good night of sleep

Sleep is a master regulator of mood, energy, hormones, and more. A good night of sleep will help you reset mentally and physically and head into the new year, ready to tackle the daily habits needed to work towards your goals.

4. Schedule a goal-setting session

Speaking of working towards your goals, brainstorming, writing down, and sharing your goals for the new year as soon as possible is a great way to reset after the holidays. Keep your eyes on the future and use our free goal-setting worksheet to set nutrition, fitness, and health-specific goals.

5. Move your body

Elle Woods said it best, “exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy…” (IYKYK the rest). Moving your body—especially early in your day—will help you take action that votes in favor of your health goals. That mental and physical will spill into other daily decisions and build to help you create healthy movement habits.

6. Be kind to yourself

We’re all human! Whether or not the holidays were a “success” for you, show yourself a little grace. Remember that there is no room for guilt when it comes to nutrition. It is all about focusing on what feels good in your body and showing up for yourself each day. 

7. Scroll back in your food log for meal ideas

As you start the new year, there is nothing wrong with pulling things that worked from the previous year forward. If there are any specific meals or meal-prepping strategies that work for you, identify and repeat them.

8. Drink plenty of water

Aiming for at least 100oz of water daily is a great start. But, if you’re pretty far off that, start small and try adding 10-20oz to your daily intake until you get there. Proper hydration helps with performance, recovery, and even weight loss (if that is your goal). Wondering how much water you need and how to get enough? This article will help!

9. Get Outside

Even if you live somewhere that is cold at the beginning of the year, fresh air and sunshine will always help you reset, ground yourself, and check in with what is most important to you. Make a point to bundle up and spend time in nature for at least 10 minutes each day.

10. Check in with your coach or accountability buddy

Big goals are exciting, but it is the small, measurable daily habits that make the biggest difference in your health. Accountability—whether it is from a nutrition coach, friend, gym buddy, or family member—is one of the biggest factors to successfully sticking with your goals when motivation (inevitably) dips.

 

Get a 1-on-1 Nutrition Coach

Get a jumpstart on your nutrition goals with a Working Against Gravity coach. Our 1-on-1 coaches work with you to build, monitor, and adjust your personalized macro prescription based on your body, food preferences, training style, schedule, goals, and more. 

Then, through weekly check-ins, unlimited messages, and metric-tracking touchpoints, they’ll help you build the habits needed to not only reach your health and performance goals, but maintain the progress you work so hard for.