New Year, New You!!!! What are you looking to achieve in 2025? It’s such an exciting time of the year as we look ahead to all that is possible and think about areas we would like to improve upon! 

It is so helpful as we determine our goals to set realistic expectations and benchmarks. If your goal is weight-loss related through macros, you want to remember that we are after sustainable progress– results that we can maintain while keeping our quality of life, social lives, family celebrations etc.

With consistency, we can expect to achieve .5 to 1 pound a week through macros; this is with high consistency while in a slight caloric deficit. We’re chasing body recomposition in addition to weight loss with macros, which means we will see body fat decrease while preserving/building muscle mass. This means we may see inches change before that scale starts to move, but the scale will come along with time!

When setting goals, be kind to yourself and recognize the season you’re in. Wanting to get back to the 130# body you had at 21 pre-babies as a now 40 year old woman may not be the most realistic expectation we can set for ourselves. Instead, focus on how you want to FEEL as you cruise into your 40s and beyond! STRONG beats skinny every time! We want to be feeling our best and our strongest, capable of hoisting those grandbabies, carrying in our own groceries, and discovering new strength with each year.

The more slowly we achieve our goals, the more sustainable they will be to maintain because we’ll be getting there while eating real food, not three day juice cleanses. If you have 15 to 20 pounds to lose, give yourself six to nine months to get there while prioritizing your nutrition and workouts! You didn’t get to where you are currently overnight, so let’s give ourselves some grace in how long we take to get to the next place we would like to be!!! 

Remember that we can really crank up the intensity if the season lends itself to it- sometimes we are really in a place for crushing our macros, taking on a new strength training plan etc., and it feels so good to get the most out of those seasons! They can set us up well for following them with a season of overall consistency– maybe we drop to a few less workouts, enjoy a few more untracked meals- but the work we put in during the higher intensity season sets us up well for continued success and progress as we ease back on the throttle a little bit. 

What I always remind my clients is that CONSISTENCY trumps INTENSITY. To be honest, I am rarely in a season of life for intensity, but I’ve found that sticking to the basics and focusing on consistency over perfection is truly the ticket to maintenance and progress. Whatever season you are in, you can make progress towards your goals if you will focus on consistently making the best choices you can each day, which leads into weeks that stack up into months. Stacking good choices on top of more good choices adds up to beautiful progress!!!