By: Brandon Conner

As we once again approach the end of the year, lots of things are coming up soon. Thanksgiving is upon us, with Christmas shortly thereafter, and all the hustle and bustle that comes along with it. Family and friends will be coming into town, gifts will be bought and received, oh…  and the FOOD. The holiday junk food floodgates are about to be released on us all. In these next few weeks it will be hard to turn the corner without having access to any & every sort of cake, pie, & candy you could think of.

With all this going on, it is easy to see how many peoples fitness plans get derailed this time of year. This is probably one big reason that a renewed dedication to the gym, or a healthy diet, or BOTH, is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions. Let’s be honest, though. How many times have we made these resolutions in the past, only to have them laid aside a week or two later? That’s because like most things, giant changes can be very difficult to make a consistent part of your life. It can be done, but taking small steps, adapting to those less daunting changes, and then adding more later on, is a much more reasonable way to create new habits in your life.

First off, be reasonable with yourself. Setting too high of a goal, like eating NO junk food throughout the whole holidays, when you typically have considered stuffing and fried turkey and peppermint bark three major food groups, might be setting yourself up for failure. Instead, you could say that you will eat paleo for two meals of the day, and at dinner, allow yourself a holiday treat. If you go from eating sweets at 3 meals a day, to only one, that’s a major step in the right direction, and you still get to splurge a little bit too!

This year, I propose we all do away with the typical “New Year’s Resolution” and decide NOW, before the new year is upon us, what changes we would like to see in our lives in the upcoming 12 months. Aim big, but start small. As we finish up with November, and head into December, we can begin working on these goals now, so when midnight turns to 12:01, and 2016 has officially begun, we already have some momentum started to help us be much more likely to keep true to those goals we have set. Then, at the end of 2016, we can look back, through or failures and or victories, and know we truly gave our resolutions a fair shot this time.