As the New Year rolls around, many of us feel the pressure to “reset” after the holidays—whether it’s about food, fitness, or our health goals. If you’re thinking you need to make up for what you ate or didn’t do, it’s time for a mindset shift. This New Year, you don’t have to punish yourself to improve your health. Instead, let’s focus on sustainable, compassionate ways to nurture your body, improve your relationship with food, and set realistic intentions for 2025.

Why You Don’t Need to “Make Up” for the Holidays

Every year, diet culture pushes the idea that you need to “make up” for indulgences during the holiday season. Whether it’s through restrictive diets, intense workouts, or detoxing, it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing you need to undo what you ate or how you behaved. But here’s the truth: you don’t need to make up for anything.

New Year’s resolutions are often built on guilt or unrealistic expectations, and most people end up abandoning their resolutions by February. So, why do we still set these overwhelming goals? Because it feels good to be aspirational, even though deep down, we know we’re unlikely to stick with them.

Rather than jumping into another round of restrictive dieting or punishing yourself for “bad” holiday eating habits, let’s talk about a better way to approach the New Year—one that prioritizes health, self-compassion, and long-term success.

Shift Your Focus: Set Intentions, Not Resolutions

Instead of diving into rigid, outcome-based resolutions, try focusing on intentions. While resolutions often focus on specific goals (like losing weight or cutting out sugar), intentions are process-oriented and help you focus on the journey rather than the destination.

When you set intentions, you’re looking at where you are now, where you want to be, and how you can move toward that place in a sustainable, compassionate way. This approach helps to remove the pressure and sets you up for lasting change.

Reflect on the Past Year: How Was Your Relationship With Food?

Take some time to reflect on your health and relationship with food in the past year. Ask yourself questions like:

• What were your wins? Did you start eating more intuitively? Did you let go of food guilt during the holidays? Write down 5-10 wins that show how far you’ve come.
• What lessons did you learn? Think about the challenges you faced. What worked? What didn’t? Write down 5-10 lessons you learned about your body, health, or food. This will give you clarity on where you want to focus in 2025.

Looking Ahead to 2025: What Do You Want to Feel?

As you think about the year ahead, ask yourself:

• What do you want your eating habits to feel like? Do you want food to feel less stressful? More joyful? Less restricted?
• How do you want to feel about your body? Are you working toward body neutrality or self-acceptance?
• What does movement look like for you? Do you want to find an exercise routine that feels good or focus on enjoying movement rather than punishing your body?

By asking these questions, you’re shifting away from the diet mentality and creating a more balanced, intuitive approach to health and well-being.

Overcoming Barriers and Taking Action

When setting your intentions, you might encounter some barriers. It’s important to identify them upfront so you can make a plan to address them.

For example, if you’re looking to eat more intuitively but struggle with old dieting habits, a good next step might be reading books like Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch or enrolling in a program to guide you through the process.

If you’re finding it hard to listen to your body’s hunger cues or are still tied to tracking food, try focusing on small, incremental changes that allow you to let go of the rules and trust your body instead.

Specific Ways to Embrace Intuitive Eating in the New Year

If you’re interested in a structured, sustainable way to improve your relationship with food, Intuitive Eating is an excellent approach. It focuses on tuning into your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues, removing the guilt from eating, and moving away from dieting.

Here’s how you can start incorporating Intuitive Eating in the New Year:

• Read the book “Intuitive Eating“ by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch to understand the principles of Intuitive Eating.
• Work through the Intuitive Eating Workbook to explore and practice all 10 principles at your own pace.
• Consider joining a group program or course focused on Intuitive Eating to get personalized guidance and support.

For those who want extra support and accountability, group programs like Intuitive Eating Exploration offer a structured, supportive environment where you can dive deep into the Intuitive Eating process and practice the principles with others.

Why the Diet Mindset Doesn’t Work

The reality is, dieting doesn’t work long-term. While diets may promise quick results, they fail to provide lasting change. Dieting often leads to feelings of deprivation, guilt, and shame, and ultimately, most people end up regaining the weight they lost (and sometimes more). Instead of focusing on weight loss or detoxing, shift your energy toward creating a positive relationship with food, your body, and movement.

By focusing on self-compassion and gentle nutrition, you’re setting yourself up for long-term success that feels good, not stressful.

Wrapping Up: Focus on Health, Not Punishment

To wrap things up, you don’t need to “make up” for what you ate during the holidays. Your body doesn’t need to detox, and the New Year doesn’t need to be about punishing yourself for indulging in food you enjoy.

Instead, take time to reflect on the past year, set realistic intentions, and focus on nurturing your body with kindness. This year, make peace with food, trust your body, and honor your health in ways that are both sustainable and compassionate.

Remember: You are worthy just as you are—no need to change or “fix” anything.

Ready to Dive Deeper?

If you want more support as you step into 2025 with Intuitive Eating, consider joining a program or reading more about how to apply these principles. Start the year off right by leaning into non-diet, health-promoting habits that empower you.

Listen & subscribe on your favorite platform:  Apple Podcasts  | Spotify | Deezer |  Google

Search for Episode 161 Helping Kids Navigate Sugar: An Intuitive Eating Approach

Looking for more support on your journey to food freedom and body acceptance?

• Join my Facebook group & community “Intuitive Eating Made Easy”
• Take my FREE quiz “What’s Your Unique Path to Food Freedom?”
• Save $120 on HelloFresh, my fav food delivery service!
• Check out my course, Non-Diet Academy