A Simple 5-Week Plan to Build Healthy Habits to Achieve Your New Year’s Goals

In this article: 

• New Year’s resolutions may be short-lived, but true lifestyle changes and new habits can last. 
• With small steps, you can establish habits that can help you lose weight and manage your health. 
• Here’s a 5-week plan for a new you in the new year. It can help you gain momentum to carry you through the year.
• Each week focuses on a different area that impacts health and weight, including nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress, and support. Each week, choose 1-2 small steps that fit into your lifestyle. 
• Lark can help you stay motivated and on track during the holiday season and every day with 24/7 coaching towards your health and weight loss goals.

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Fitness and weight loss resolutions are common, but the traditional “New Year’s resolution” approach may leave you where you’ve been before: making the same resolutions next year if you don’t hit your goals this year. It may be time for a new approach. 

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Here’s a five-week plan to help you make tiny changes that help you progress towards your goals. Each week focuses on a different area that impacts health and weight. By the end of five weeks, you can build momentum and have strong habits that last all year. 

How It Works

This step-by-step plan lasts for five weeks. Each week suggests a few tiny steps, or small changes, that you can make to improve your confidence and abilities in the area of emphasis. The suggested changes focus on taking action rather than avoiding them, since research published in PLoS ONE suggests that this approach leads to better results. There are also tips for specific concerns like managing diabetes, lowering blood pressure if you have hypertension, or thriving with GLP-1 medications. 

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Here’s how to use this guide.

• Choose 1-3 small changes that you want to make for the current week (weeks 1-5). You can use suggestions from the list, or come up with your own
• Track the changes you make each day
• At the end of each week, decide which changes you want to continue making 
• Continue your preferred changes as you add new changes in the new week 

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You can use the printable pdf worksheet if you like!

Week 1: Eating Habits for Weight Management and Overall Health

Eating well means nourishing your body to feel your best and be your healthiest self. A complete overhaul of your diet is difficult and likely unsustainable, but a few small changes can make a big difference. 

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Consider these ideas. 

• Add a salad, some carrots, vegetable soup, or another serving of vegetables to your lunch each day
• Swap a serving of refined grain for a whole grain. Refined grains include white rice, white bread, pasta, refined breakfast cereals, pretzels, and white crackers. Whole grains include brown rice, whole-wheat bread or pasta, whole-grain breakfast cereal, oatmeal, quinoa, and whole-grain crackers
• Replace a sugar-sweetened beverage with water, unsweetened tea, or black coffee or coffee with a splash of almond milk or regular milk. Sugar-sweetened beverages can include soft drinks, flavored coffee drinks, sweet tea, and fruit drinks
• Add 2-3 ounce-equivalents of lean protein at breakfast to stay full longer. Examples include 4 egg whites, 2 ounces of lean ground turkey, ½ cup of low-fat cottage cheese, or 1 ounce of nuts
• Have fruit for dessert instead of a sugar-sweetened food

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Condition-specific tips

• Prediabetes or diabetes: Focus on controlled portions of high-fiber carbohydrates like non-starchy vegetables and whole grains to stabilize blood sugar
• GLP-1 users: Eating smaller portions can help you avoid side effects and lose weight. Chew slowly and emphasize nutrient-dense foods like lean proteins

Week 2: Easy Ways to Increase Daily Activity for Health

You can add activity without being an athlete or gym rat. Every movement counts! 

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Consider these ideas. 

• Add a 5-10-minute walk before or after a meal 
• Do one new muscle-strengthening exercise twice this week. On one day, do 8-10 repetitions, rest, and repeat. Do this again on another day of the week
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator once a day
• Walk around the parking lot before going inside, or park a block further from your destination
• Add a 1-minute “activity break” mid-morning and mid-afternoon to break up sitting time. Try marching in place, doing squats, front, side, or back lunges, or calf raises and arm swings

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Condition-specific tips

• Hypertension or pre-hypertension: Adding muscle-strengthening exercises can lower systolic blood pressure by 2-7 mm Hg, according to the AHA/ACC Guidelines 
• Diabetes: Physical activity is one of the quickest ways to lower blood sugar, with effects within a minute of starting activity. Effects last for 24-48 hours, so try not to go more than a day without exercising

Week 3: Improve Sleep to Support Weight and Blood Sugar

Getting enough sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your weight and health, but many adults don’t get enough, according to an article in Sleep Medicine clinics. Sleep supports mental health, stress reduction, and normal hormone function. In addition to getting adequate and good-quality sleep, it’s also important to have consistent sleep and wake times.

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Consider these ideas. 

• Set a realistic bedtime, and stick to it even on weekends
• Establish a bedtime routine that may include brushing your teeth, washing your face, changing into your night clothes, and engaging in a calming activity like journaling, reading, or planning the next day’s meals
• Track your sleep for a week to understand your sleep patterns and motivate better habits
• Choose decaffeinated beverages instead of caffeinated options within 6-8 hours of bedtime. Coffee, cola, and tea are common sources of caffeine
• Make a positive change to your sleep environment. Adding blackout curtains, turning on a noise machine for white noise, or getting a more comfortable pillow if you’re overdue for one are some ideas

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Condition-specific tips

• Weight loss and maintenance: Inadequate sleep can increase levels of hunger hormones, increase cravings for snack foods, and reduce your ability to make sound nutritional choices for weight management
• Diabetes and prediabetes: Adequate sleep is essential for normal blood sugar regulation and insulin function

Week 4: Manage Stress and Practice Mindfulness for Health

Stress management supports physical and mental health, and it doesn’t require specialized training. 

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Consider these ideas. 

• Practice gratitude by taking a minute before bed to identify two things you were grateful for during the day
• Count to 5 slowly before you respond or react to any potentially stressful situation
• Use a hunger and fullness scale to assess how you’re feeling and to eat appropriate amounts of food
• Commit to eating mindfully at one meal daily by noticing the flavors, textures, and scents of your food, the sights and sounds of your eating environment, and other people around you

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Condition-specific tips

• Weight loss and maintenance: Checking in with your hunger and fullness can help you eat only the amount of food that your body needs, and not more
• GLP-1 medication users: Eating more slowly can help reduce side effects like nausea and allow you to notice fullness sooner, so it’s easier to eat less and lose more weight
• Hypertension: The AHA/ACC Guidelines note that chronic stress often contributes to high blood pressure

Week 5: Build Support and Accountability for Lasting Change

A support network can increase your accountability, improve your outlook, and provide tangible help when needed. 

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Consider these ideas. 

• Share your weekly and long-term goals with a friend or family member
• Schedule a workout with a neighbor, friend, family member, or other possible exercise buddy
• Log your meals to increase awareness and self-accountability
• Join or contribute to a support group or online community (only choose respected, trustworthy groups)
• Ask for and offer help, such as watching both families’ children while the other parent takes a break, and in exchange, have the parent in the other family watch both sets of children while you exercise or cook a healthy meal for everyone

Condition-specific tips

• Diabetes: Daily diabetes self-management can be an intensive task, and it can be easier when you have a support system to help you stay positive and feel empowered
• Weight management and prediabetes: Accountability helps improve long-term success
• Heart health: Supportive relationships reduce stress

How Lark Can Help

It’s possible to grow into a new you in the new year, and small changes can make it happen. Your Lark coach is available 24/7 for encouragement, nutrition and physical activity coaching, and habit tracking. Lark can help you make healthy choices and establish habits that fit into your lifestyle so you can lose weight and keep it off with or without GLP-1 medications. 

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Click here to see if you may be eligible to join Lark today!

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