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Have a resolution to get healthy in 2025? A local expert explains how to do it

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Have a resolution to get healthy in 2025? A local expert explains how to do it

Expert: ditch the ‘all or nothing’ mentality to getting healthy

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A new year means it’s time for new resolutions, and one of the most popular is the vow that this will be the year – no, really – that you will finally start taking care of yourself and get into shape.

But the resolution to get healthy would also appear to be one of the most difficult to keep for more than a few days or weeks into the new year. Why is that?

According to Chris Cali, who along with his brother Matt and uncle Anthony, co-owns Fitness Concepts Health Club and CrossFit 696 in Gardner, it’s because most people looking to get healthy tend to set vague and unrealistic goals for themselves.

“We hear people say, ‘I want to get fit’ or ‘I want to get in shape,’ and that doesn’t really mean anything,” said Cali, who is a Certified Cross Fit Trainer and nutrition coach. “So, I think the top thing for someone looking to get into shape is to set realistic and very specific goals.”

Set realistic and attainable health goals in 2025

Cali suggests aiming for more easily attainable targets such as exercising three times a week or losing three pounds in a month.

“These goals are actually measurable and trackable,” he said. “Break those larger goals into smaller milestones and really keep track of their progress, and make sure to celebrate those wins along the way.”

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Looking to eat healthier in 2025? Again, Cali’s advice is to select a small target in your diet, such as drinking more water every day, and work to achieve that goal.

“Ditch the ‘all or nothing’ mentality,” he said. “Make your resolution to simply drink more water, and once you’ve established that habit, we can work on things like eating more vegetables or getting more protein. With our nutrition program, we try to encourage our clients to pick one thing at a time and then build on that habit over the course of three to six months to a year.”

Getting healthy can be as simple as drinking more water

When it comes to drinking enough water, Cali said the standard recommended amount was around 50 or 60 ounces each day, but he noted that that could vary depending on a person’s activity level or body weight. But he said drinking enough water each day was a great first step in getting healthier in the new year.

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“You would be amazed,” he said.

Although nutrition coaches would rarely or never tell a client not to eat any one particular food, Cali said if he had to select one item to reduce or eliminate from your diet it would be processed sugar.

“Fruit is all sugar but we’re not going to tell you not to eat fruit because that is healthy sugar,” he said. “But those added sugars or processed sugars that they’re putting in our drinks and our foods, we would want to limit those because they’ve been proven to cause all sorts of disease.”

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