Make health your New Year’s Resolution – but only in moderation, local dietician, fitness experts say

Overstuffed from holiday dinners, many resolve to be more healthy in the new year. But healthy habits may not stick, local experts say, without reasonable goals.

“If you can’t maintain something, the chances of long-term success are minimal,” said MultiCare dietitian Brittany Thorpe. “I see so many people make a big New Year’s resolution, only to give up. I do not want to see that.”

Making a goal to be in the gym every day is not realistic for most people. When people set and do not meet a goal, it can often “feel pointless” to continue at all, Thorpe said of her practice.

For gyms across the country, New Year’s is often when they see the most new customers. According to Re Fitness Studio owner Jessi Thompson, fitness newcomers often struggle with “absolutes.”

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get healthy and making positive changes,” she said, “but doing extreme food challenges or food restrictions often lead to short-term gains that are not sustainable.”

The perceived failure of not living up to expectations often leads to depression and can cause the onset of an eating disorder, Thompson said. For the North Spokane fitness instructor, being perfect should never be the goal: It is about the “small, quiet choices made every day to honor the body.”

Thorpe’s clients, who she helps lose weight, often feel intense guilt for enjoying a holiday meal.

“That all-or-nothing mentality feels great when you are on track. But then you just feel like you’re not doing anything when you mess up at all,” Thorpe said.

Even fitness instructors indulge over the holidays.

“It’s important just to show yourself grace and let yourself be a normal person,” said Spokane Club fitness director Nathaniel Rawley. “Because even in the fitness industry, personal trainers love to eat delicious foods and desserts during the holidays. It’s part of it, and I would never discourage anyone from partaking in those traditions.”

Exercising at the Spokane Club just two days after Christmas, Ken Roberts said he was not worried about working off a big holiday meal – even though he had just had one.

“That is the wrong way to look at it. You don’t work off a meal. Your body is smarter than that,” he said.

If big holiday meals are still on the horizon before New Year’s, Thorpe recommends avoiding surplus eating between holiday meals, such as extra cookies or sweets that may be lying around. Holiday meals typically involve a lot of starches, like mashed potatoes, cornbread or mac and cheese. These foods are typically digested by the body quickly and do not leave you full very long.

While still enjoying a holiday meal, Thorpe recommends focusing on foods with protein and fiber, which take longer to digest. That still gives a full feeling on a holiday meal – but without getting hungry again a few hours later. She also recommends limiting sugary drinks and alcohol.

But the Spokane dietitian stressed that eating a lot this time of year is normal. What is important is to not let your holiday diet become a new normal.

“If you have a day where you eat too much on a holiday, that’s fine. But let’s not extend that to the whole month. We keep it to that day, reset during the week, and then go back to what you were doing before.”

Thorpe recommends New Year’s resolutions, but only for small and attainable changes.

“If you don’t eat balanced meals, you can often feel a lot of guilt. Society tells you to eat less and move more and all your problems will be solved,” she said. “But if you are paralyzed because of guilt, you can’t move forward. New Year’s resolutions can be beneficial. Just make sure that they are realistic.”