Happy 2024, my friends! Today, I wanted to take a minute to share 3 strategies to help you navigate the first few days or weeks of the new year.

Tip #1 – It’s OK to Delay (But use this time to prepare)

If you have a resolution or goals for 2024, but weren’t quite ready to go on Jan 1 (or Jan 2 or 3), it’s fine to take a few days to get in a suitable head space. But do yourself a favor, set a start date, and make sure you’re prepped and ready on “go day.” 

Here are some suggestions:

• Menu plan and grocery shop.
• Schedule your workouts in your calendar.
• Charge your ear pods and download podcasts.
• Pull your cold-weather running gear out of the bin.
• Make sure you have illuminated clothing or headlamps for pre-dawn walks, etc.

Tip #2 – Focus on the Thing That Will Make the Greatest Impact

Make a list of your goals and rank them in order of what will make the greatest impact first. In other words, if you were to get this one thing under control, the rest start to fall into place more easily.

When people set goals or resolutions, losing weight, eating better, and exercising more are usually high on the list. But, if I could weigh in (haha, trainer joke), and if you are a woman in her early 40s to late 50s, I’d want to focus on sleep hygiene first. Here’s why.

Women in this age group are typically going through perimenopause or are post-menopausal. Sleep disruption ranks very high with all the other super fun things that occur during that phase of life. Yep, you’re nodding. But why does it matter? When you get a good night’s sleep, you have energy in the morning and feel better able to get up and exercise, limit caffeine during the lags at 3 or 4pm, and help you make better food choices during the day. Wake up after 4 hours of sleep, and you are dragging. You may skip your workout and chow down on too many carby, sugary snacks in search of that elusive energy.

I get it; sleep hygiene isn’t sexy. But once you get your sleep under control, the other healthy habits you’re trying to create become much more manageable.

Now, getting a handle on your nutrition or cutting out alcohol might be the most impactful thing you can do, but it’s still worth doing the exercise to see if that will truly be the game-changer.

Tip #3 – Tackle One Thing at a Time

Losing weight, eating more fruits and veggies, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, cutting back on alcohol, minimizing your reliance on social media, and managing stress are great goals. Still, I don’t recommend you do a complete overhaul at once. It’s a lot.

Now, some behavior changes play well together. Drinking more water and eating more fruits and veggies pair easily. Cutting back or abstaining from alcohol and amping-up your exercise routine also complement each other. But I wouldn’t start out of the gate with too many new things.

Instead, take time to adjust and adapt to your new behavior and once you have a good handle on it (read: you’ve been consistent for 4 – 8 weeks), work on the next thing. Healthy behaviors build on each other and can easily be undone so it’s important to have this new behavior fully ingrained in your day-to-day activities. 

If you need to find a village of like-minded folks, you can try online challenges such as Dry January, Veganuary, Meatless Mondays, The 7-Day Engine 2 Rescue Plant-Based Challenge, 75 Hard, etc. They come with a lot of info and a base of support to help you complete the challenge. I’ve done quite a few challenges like this, and I think they are really useful.

You can also reach out to me if you need more personal attention or accountability to reach your goals in the new year. I’m happy to sit down with you (in person or virtually) and help you map out your plan.

Now go run!

Keli 🙂