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The Skinny on Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions


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SANTA FE, N.M. — The most popular New Year’s resolutions for 2016 involved staying fit and losing weight, and chances are good that many people are setting the same goal again in 2017. The psychology of motivation may hold the answer to how people can keep their resolutions in the new year.


According to Elliot Berkman, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, it’s important to start with a goal that is less abstract and more actionable than just “staying healthy” – and to start on it as soon as possible.


“What you want to do is to get those immediate reinforcements as early as you can,” Berkman said. “So, it’s kind of classic advice and it’s good advice to start small, and to make sure to reinforce each little step.”


According to a Nielsen study, 43 percent of people said they planned to lose weight at the beginning of this year by eating healthier. But more than 75 percent who had that goal had not followed a healthy diet or weight-loss program the year before, so they hadn’t developed the healthy habits necessary for success.


Berkman said this can be the biggest obstacle. Our habitual behavior – which may not involve regular visits to the gym – is the easiest for us to fall back on. Following through on a New Year’s resolution means rewiring the brain for a new habit – literally. Berkman said people are better off doing something they like and connecting the habit to something bigger.


“Maybe it’s connecting it to your family or your work, or earning money,” he said. “Whatever is the thing that you really care about, find the way that that new goal is connected to that, and that’s going to also serve as a reinforcement for it.”


Technology also can be useful for keeping people motivated. Berkman said at the University of Oregon’s Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab where he works, he and other researchers use text messaging to remind people of their goals. He said abstract goals can be hard to keep in mind day to day, especially when concrete temptations exist all around.


“It helps combat fire with fire, a little bit, to get those texts in your daily life,” Berkman said. “And so, you don’t need to go out of your way to remember why you care about losing weight or exercising more. We’re going to remind you, and we’ll do it in your own words.”


Author – Suzanne Potter, Public News Service (NM)

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The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional, licensed physician, and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified health care professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from a wide array of disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and support, directly or indirectly, our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request. We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to contact us. Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN* email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com phone: 915-850-0900 Licensed in: Texas & New Mexico*