10 Tips to Conquer Your Keto New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Day is one of my favorite days of the year. It's an opportunity to start fresh. And although most New Year's Resolutions don't make it past the 2nd week of January, we are hopeful we can help you make it all the way to the end. Here are our TOP 10 TIPS to conquering your Keto New Year's Resolutions.

1. Decide on what your overall goal is. From there, you can get specific. 

This is the easiest part of creating your New Year's Resolutions. And you probably already know what it is. Take a moment, and decide what your overall goal is for 2018. For example, it can be weight loss, fitness, or improving your overall health.

  
From there, you can get specific. If my overall goal is to improve strength, my specific goal could be to complete 15 consecutive strict pull-ups, and squat my body weight.

Next, ask yourself HOW and WHY you want to pursue this goal.  
HOW will I improve pull-ups/squats this year? 
WHY do I want to improve my pull-ups/squats this year?

This will give you great insight into why you are pursuing a certain goal.

 

2. What method of keto will suit you best? 

Did you know there are sub-categories to the keto diet? There is the classic keto diet, which is used for epilepsy, carb-cycling, which is great for athletes, keto alongside intermittent fasting, which is great if you have a lot of weight to lose, etc. Experiment with yourself! Figure out what works for you.

 
Remember this. No specific way of eating is perfect for everyone. It's important that you are in tune with your body enough to make the changes if something is not working. So as you begin a new way of eating, follow the plan for at least three weeks, and then from there, start experimenting.

 

3. Dedicate yourself to ongoing education. 

Everything there is to know about nutrition, has not yet been discovered. So be flexible, read as much as you can, and listen to your gut with what makes sense. A few websites I frequent are Mark's Daily Apple, Chris Kresser, National Center for Biotechnology Information (for a look at the most recent studies), and ruled.me.

 

4. Prepare your environment for success. 

This is the MOST important tip I will give you today. No matter how solid your motivation is, the highly processed food you find on grocery store shelves is designed to override all thought-processes in your brain. So remove ALL temptation from your house. If you really need a treat, or your family who are not following this way of eating need a dessert, GO OUT FOR IT.

DO NOT BRING IT BACK INTO YOUR HOUSE. Your home should be your safe haven.

 

5. Have a method for relieving stress. 

We live in a far more stressful time than our ancestors. (No really, we do).  We feel stress from our never-ending pursuit to be "busy", environmental toxins, chemicals in our food, lack of nutrients in our soil, our CrossFit style workouts (5 days a week), our jobs, our family, social media,... should I continue? So find an outlet that can reduce stress, such as yoga, meditation, gardening, and long walks.

 

6. Find a website, cookbook, or show to inspire you.  

If you want to really change your lifestyle, learn to cook! For the majority of us (myself included), this does not come easy or naturally. I, like a lot of us, was brought up on boxed cereal, ham and cheese sandwiches, and Stouffer's lasagna. And it takes a lot of failed meals to start to get it right. But once you do, you never want to eat out again. The food you create at home is so much better! A couple of my favorite keto/paleo/primal personalities to follow are;

 
Diane Sanfilippo
Danielle Walker 
Liz Williams 
Mark Sisson

7. Have concrete benchmarks to mark your progress.  

Once you have your specific goal narrowed down, you will want to develop a plan to achieve those goals, with benchmarks along the way. An example of this would be;

Overall Goal: Improved Health 

Specific Goal: Energized all day long without the need for caffeine or carbs.  

Beginning Date: 1/1/18 
End Goal Date: 1/22/18 

Plan for success: I will be following the keto diet. I will track my macros for the first week, and then only as needed based on how I feel. 

I will be keeping a journal of how I feel every day for three weeks.

  

8. Dedicate some time to engaging face to face with others. 

Host a dinner at your house, go hiking, get together for morning tea, do something to be face to face with other humans! More and more of us are on our phones, working from home, or binge-watching Netflix. Take some time to connect with others.  

 

9. Make sleep a priority. 

This will improve all areas in your life, so just do it! If you have trouble getting enough restful sleep, check out this great article by Chris Kresser called, 8 Tips For Beating Insomnia and Improving Your Sleep. 

 

10. Take breaks from all screens, weekly. 

Take a full day off, at least every 2 weeks, preferably once a week. You will be surprised how refreshed you will feel! It will help you clear your head.

  
Happy New Year!