One year, ages ago, a work friend of mine got me on board with doing a dry January. Sure why not?
Turns out giving up alcohol after the holidays led to a little more sugar consumption than I wanted so the next year I did no alcohol and no sweets. Which then led to no junk food. Which then led to no carbs (still fruits and veggies but following a recommended diet for my autoimmune).
So for years it’s been some variation of a January reset. And I have done it with a variety of friends.
This year I started thinking a little bit more about why I’m doing it. Just because it’s something I have done doesn’t mean it has to be something that I continue to do. Or if I continue that it needs to follow the same format. So I took some time to really think about why I was doing it, what was working, and what not so much.
The things I like:
- After some indulgences over the holiday I like to give my body a break
- I like to reset some of my habits
- Feels good to accomplish a challenge
- Fun bonding with friends
- I do tend to lose weight, a little
Some of the things I don’t like:
- I lost track of my why
- Feels like deprivation
- It can make me want to have more of my ‘last’ of any given thing
- January 1st feels less like a holiday
- When I start back up again not much has changed
So this year I decided to play with the formula:
- Delay – Things starting Jan 2 lets me not worry so much about glasses down at midnight and easing into the day without worry about indulgences
- 2 weeks – I’m going to take a shorter period on no alcohol and carbs to reset which makes it feel less extreme and might ease the in and out
- Moderation – Then for 2 weeks I’m going to play with a moderate amount of carbs and alcohol (treats still off the table for a month) to incorporate some new habits and see what feels right
- Another break – Then I’m going to take another 2 week break mid year giving my body another time off to reset
So like most things this will be an experiment and I’ll pay attention to what works well and continue to tweak.
Are there things that you’ve started to do as a routine that could use a reevaluation?
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