Coming off the holiday high and with New Years right around the corner many of us may be throwing in the towel on the diet/weight loss front. At this point of the year it’s really easy to have the "I might as well wait" attitude. Thinking that it’s not worth getting back on track after the big holiday meals and indulgences we have allowed ourselves. What’s the point? Right? New Years is only a few days away.
I know this feeling well. It’s why I wrote New Months Eve. We get the thought that we’ll just wait until that magic day. Like midnight on Jan 1 all will fall into place and we’ll start the new year right. It’s the "perfect" time to make resolutions. To set goals. It’s the "perfect" time to start being "perfect".
I did it. I still do it. It makes sense in out irrational brains. What we don’t think about is all we can gain (or LOSE) the days in between. There are four days between now and New Years. Would you rather start the year off with the momentum of good choices and a healthy diet? Or eat all the crap that will make the first all that much harder. With even more weight to lose. Even more cravings to overcome.
And don’t get me started on the "last hurrah" syndrome. You do not have to eat everything in sight over the next four days just to say goodbye to it. That’s just starting the new year off with the wrong attitude. You aren’t entering a year to deny yourself anything. You are making good choices NOW and THEN.
Let me let you in on a little secret…
YOU WILL NOT BE PERFECT IN THE NEW YEAR
It’s impossible.
So please don’t throw the last few days of 2008 away becuase you think you will. Make good, healthy choices and let’s make the end of the year as good as we plan to make the new one.
I leave you with this quote from Maria Robinson…
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start TODAY and make a new ending.
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Thank you so much for this post! I’ve been following you off and on for a while now! I currently need to lose about 40 pounds. I’m not sure exactly how I got here, but I’m ready to go back. I’m tired of trying to figure out what I did and didn’t do and how long it took me to get here. I’m just ready!! I just went into the kitchen to figure out what to make for breakfast and literally got sick to my stomach when thinking about all the not so healthy food choices! I’m going to scour your site over the next few days!! Thank you for your motivation and endurance! I can’t wait to show you my after pictures!!
Hi Roni! I’m actually getting a jump start on the new year by using this last week of December to get myself in gear. Kind of a running start to New Year, New Me. That’s what I’m calling my initiative to change my health habits for good. Today I’m going to be food planning and taking inventory in my pantry. I have to be prepared or I will be hitting the snack machine at work and that’s never pretty! Thanks for the post, it reminds me that my efforts will make a difference in the coming year! I love all your sites and just invited several of my friends to start the new year with you (us) on Blog to Lose! Have a very Happy New Year!!
Roni – you are so right!! Thanks for the pep talk! If you read my blog, you’ll know I SURE need it!
Thanks Roni for this post. I am wanting to lose weight and am going to follow your blog in 2009. I am using this time off during the holidays to get my rear moving and started off right.
No last horrah.. well, as long as you don’t include last nights chocolate pie. I know that as my jouney begins, I will slip, fall, and probably not want to get back up~ I also know that if I just give up I will spend the rest of the new year as miserable as I was this past year. I’m done with that.
I’m looking at this as a head start.. ready set go!
Thanks Roni.
Amazingly well written. All of the “kick-ass” advice I need but know one else will give me!
GREAT quote! I almost gave in to waiting til the new year to start.. I have a new years eve party to go to that I *Know* will include alcohol and other food temptations… but I stopped myself..and got back to my exercise and eating plan yesterday.. 5 days before the ‘new year’… to me.. the new year is now..why wait to change later when you can change now!
I totally agree! Since I was a teenager, I would always suffer from the “last hurrah” syndrome. What I never realized was that by trying to eat everything that I could before I said goodbye to it, just made me want the stuff even more when it was time to be done with it.
This past August, I made a commitment to myself to get in shape…really in shape. I am 5’2 and weighed about 123 pounds. I was not overweight by any means, but I was running a lot, and not really looking how I should (considering all of the running that I was doing). One day, I just decided that was it…no more fried food, no more salt added to food, and smaller portion sizes.
In 5 months, I have only fallen off the wagon once. That was at Thanksgiving when I chowed down on Chex Mix and had two pieces of chocolate pie after dinner. It was not the end of the world, but I did realize that the high from the food was not worth the guilt feelings and overcompensation (running) that I felt I had to do for the next week after that.
I have made it through the Christmas season without a single slip up. I am down to 109 pounds; right where I wanted to be, and can see the beginnings of a solid six pack. I couldn’t be happier with my training and my eating choices. Whenever I am going into a situation (i.e. holiday party), I throw on my skinniest jeans in order to remind me of how far I have come and where I want to stay!
All of this is to say…the last hurrah is not worth it. Don’t DO IT!
As always, you’re inspiring. Thanks.
I’ve committed to having a few great days now, after a pretty crazy Christmas week. That way, when Jan. 1 rolls around, I’ll already have some OP days under my belt, and it’ll be easier to keep that momentum flowing. (pun sort of intended!) :D
Thank you Roni.I have been telling myself every day since Christmas…”OK, that’s it, no more……time to get back doing what I KNOW I can do”….and then, inevitably, twizzlers, cookies, whatever, is eaten. I just ate two big marshmellow chocolate thingies AFTER I was full. Thank you for the reminder! I CAN make a better decision going forward today….I CAN make better food choices at dinner tonight…..I CAN choose not to have dessert tonight. It will feel great to end my day that way! Thank you, thank you, thank you Roni. : )
I am so doing what you suggest. I woke up at 3:30 am this morning, ready to get my books out, pick out my menus and get to business! While I don’t officially start my Challenge until January 5th…I’m taking this week as a practice and hopefully lose a couple of pounds!!!
Roni, I really needed this post! It was exactly how I was looking at these last days of 2008. As always you never disappoint!
Great post and well needed at this time!
Good Post Roni. Same goes “as soon as I’ve had my birthday” “as soon as I attend my sisters wedding” etc. There are always going to be food obstacles in our way, its how we deal with them on a daily basis that gets us to the finish line.
I talk the talk, but with my husbands latest hospital stay, I did fall back on fast food/hospital food. Um, I probably could have gone to the store and packed my food, but was just too lazy.
I needed this post – I was just about to “throw in the towel” until January 1!
Merry belated Christmas too!
yeah … definitely not perfect in 2008, but good enough. i hope i can do an okay job with things (not just health-related) in the ensuing days and in the following year.
Hi Ronis,
Thank you very much for the logical article and excellent quote from Maria Robinson…
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start TODAY and make a new ending.
I Really like it. Thank you very much once again.
Thank you. I really needed to read this today.
Sometime around Halloween (and all of the candy), I decided to go back on WW…I didn’t actually start until the Monday before Thanksgiving, though. An odd time to start, you say? Well, it was either start on losing the 10 lbs then, or eat my way through the holidays and need to lose 15 lbs come January. I was down 8 lbs the week before Christmas and then hit a “I’ll eat it if I want it” inner-child tantrum. Oh well. Now I’m down 7 lbs (rather think of it that way than “up 1 lb”) and ready to meet the new year with a little more spring in my step…
Great post! You knew where a lot of us were headed :) For example, last night my husband made oatmeal spice cookies for dinner. Yes, for dinner. And between the two of us we ate 1/2 a batch of cookies. For dinner!
I am so guilty of the “last hurrah” syndrome, even though I know it makes things harder!! Thanks for your insight :)
LOVE IT!! Thank you once again for a GREAT post. I just indulged in a “last hurrah” at lunch but NOW am HITTING the gym after work!!! So thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have worked out every day since Sat. 12/27 and I plan to workout tomorrow and New Year’s Day!!! Leftover Christmas cookies be damned!!!
Love it Roni. Thank you. Great read for today.
So true Roni – whether it’s at Christmas or over the Summer holiday period. After getting back from a holiday in the sun the temptation to continue to indulge is still strong, but the desire to lose the weight is stronger! Appreciate the pep talk – Thanks.