I did a Google search for the most popular New Year’s Resolutions to prepare this article…do I even need to tell you what was on top of all of the lists I found?!?!
Yep, you guessed it.
Weight loss (+/- ‘getting in shape’ which we all know means the same thing).
I personally am not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions because they are normally centred around a belief that there is something wrong, lacking or inadequate about ourselves that we need to fix.
Having that negativity hanging over your head doesn’t sound like the nicest way to start a fresh new year!
And if you can’t achieve your resolution? Does that mean you remain a broken human in need of fixing? And that you are even more of a failure because you couldn’t fix yourself?
You can see how resolutions can quickly become a negative downward spiral. Combine that with what we know to be true about the long-term success of pursuing weight loss, and weight loss New Year’s Resolutions start looking more harmful than helpful.
But if you are not pursuing weight loss as your New Year’s Resolution, what are you to do instead?
Well, you can do nothing if you like! There are no rules that say you MUST set a New Year’s Resolution.
Or, setting some anti-diet intentions for how you want to live your life over the next 12 months, might be a gentler option for you.
Here are some examples
Anti-diet intentions
- I will listen to my body more
- I will be critical of diet culture
- I intend to engage in media that makes me feel good and dump the media that makes me feel bad
- I will find one thing each day in my life to feel grateful for
- I will live my life with compassion, nourishment and enjoyment rather than punishment and guilt
- I will be kind to myself and provide my body with the nourishment, water, rest and movement that makes it feel good
- I will throw out or donate those clothes that no longer fit my current body and wear clothes and underwear that fit me comfortably
- I will practise speaking kindly to myself
- I will not be afraid to take up space in the world
- I will remember that I am worthy
- I intend to advocate for healthcare that is inclusive of my weight
- I will practise more curiosity and less judgement
- I will accept that I am a human, that I am not going to live out these intentions perfectly, that I will make mistakes and that all of this is OK
do you have an anti-diet intention you would add to the list?
Originally published January 2018
Hi! My name is Nina.
I’m a Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor taking the ‘diet’ out of Dietitian. I am here to help you reject diet culture, tune into your body’s own inner wisdom about how to truly nourish yourself and ultimately feel good eating™ 
I love this post!! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Lindsey
love this so much! thanks for sharing!
It’s a pleasure Rebecca
Fabulous suggestions! I love that these are NOT diet-related!!
Thanks Chelsey
I love all of these intentions! I will definitely be setting an intention to practice more curiosity and speak kinder to myself.
I love that Lindsey!
Great message! All about the Anti-Diet Intentions in the new year!
Me too Mandy 🙂
Hi Nina! I love your work and am going to share this post in my wellness newsletter. I also write about anti-diet and HAES messaging, and it’s awesome to see more and more resources on this topic. Thanks for your work!
Thank you so much for sharing my article Brittany and for spreading the HAES message
Love this Nina!
Thank you Alison 🙂