How to set wellbeing and fitness goals that actually work

About 80 per cent of people tend to revert to their old routines by mid-February when it comes to their New Year's resolutions. Here's how to change that. Photo / Corey Fleming

Welcome to 2024, and to our new series on improving your wellbeing, one achievable step at a time. Personal trainer Samantha Bluemel will help you prioritise your health and wellness in a way that supports, not hinders, the busy and unique lifestyle you lead, breaking things down to help you get the most out of 2024 as the most vibrant and energetic version of you.

If you’re anything like me, the new year has arrived via a slow unfurling into normal life, a well deserved break filled with good food, celebratory moments and the absence of your alarm clock behind you. It’s about now that many of us are ready to tackle new year’s resolutions with a strong sense of commitment. “The new me!” you’ll cry. “My body is a temple and I commit to treating it just so!” But come mid-February and the majority of us (80 per cent in fact, according to research) will be sliding back into the comfortable and familiar routine of old, which might not be supporting the best version of you.

So how do we make changes that actually stick? Small lifestyle tweaks can stack up over time for big results. The end goal is a tangible improvement on your health; the kind of improvement you can see and feel now, while also keeping your longevity top of mind.

To begin, let’s have a look at four of the main pillars of health and wellbeing that this series will address, and how each of these are woven in our daily lives.

Exercise

In an ideal world, our exercise routine promotes endurance, strength, balance and flexibility/mobility in equal parts. Each has a crucial role to play in contributing to our overall health, so much so that it’s worth removing any mention of weight and dedicating this practice to how it makes you feel. The benefits can’t be overstated - improved heart and lung health, decreased cholesterol and blood pressure, increased lean muscle mass, pain-free joints, increased bone density, better sleep, better mood, increased energy, improved blood sugar control and reduced chances of chronic disease.

It won’t come as a surprise to you that exercise is a Good Thing, but sometimes it’s helpful to remind ourselves just how good it can be. The tricky part is learning how to approach it so that it doesn’t feel like a chore, and mentally prioritising it enough to actually fit it in. We’ll get to this part later on.

Nutrition

Sadly, nutrition has become a minefield of opposing advice and large-corp marketing agendas that have damaged our relationship with food. But get it right and you’re going to improve almost every aspect of your health from the inside out. Better bone, skin, nail, heart, digestive and mental health, reduced risk of chronic disease, improved immunity and sleep, uncomplicated weight management, longevity and quality of life are all on the menu.

After years of over-complicating things for myself, I landed on a simple approach to nutrition that’s easy to remember: conventional wisdom wins. Designing your plate with a healthy ratio of carbs, fats and proteins, treating yourself in moderation (I like the 80/20 rule), and understanding the basic “energy in vs energy out” principles of weight management takes you 90 per cent of the way there. We’ll talk about ways to bring joy and ease back to this aspect of your lifestyle as this series continues.

Nutrition plays a significant role in improving various aspects of your health, from bone and heart health to immunity and sleep quality. Photo / Corey Fleming

Sleep

Sleep is having a renaissance in the world of wellbeing. You might have heard the term “sleep hygiene buzzing around the zeitgeist in recent years. And for good reason. Getting good sleep on a regular basis will improve your brain’s cognitive function, enhance your mood, promote healthy digestion, benefit your physical performance, reduce stress and of course, give you more energy. The effects of a bad sleep are relatively self-explanatory - we all know what it feels like to wake up tired and spend the day operating at 50 per cent capacity.

Sometimes circumstances make a good sleep nearly impossible. But we want to avoid ongoing habits that set us up for low-quality sleep long-term, as that’s where the damage creeps in. The things that impact our sleep mostly happen the day prior: eating processed foods and refined sugar, drinking alcohol, not moving your body, going to bed too late, high caffeine intake and elevated stress can all lead to a bad night’s rest.

Recovery and stress management

Often neglected amidst the hustle of our daily lives, recovery and stress management go hand in hand and are an essential piece of a well-rounded wellbeing puzzle. Stress triggers the “fight or flight” response of our endocrine system, elevating hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. This is a healthy response to short-term stressors and our body will normally return to homeostasis (normal balance) once the threat has passed.

But long-term, chronic stress keeps these hormones elevated constantly, which can impact things like our mental health, immune and digestive systems, cause muscle tension, fatigue and headaches, wreak havoc on our appetite and disturb sleep patterns. We each tend to react differently to chronic stress but if you’ve come up against it, you’ll know what unique challenges it can present if not dealt with.

Recovery and stress management practices allow us to prevent stress from occurring, or when it does, to help our body return to homeostasis more readily. Simple rest, breathwork, stretching, sauna, ice bathing and massage are all excellent ways to let go of tension, and offer your body and mind a chance to restore itself.

How does your lifestyle currently impact these four pillars of wellbeing?

As a first, gentle step to improving your overall health this year, think about what your lifestyle currently looks like. What habits are supporting your wellbeing, or perhaps harming it? This exercise isn’t about beating yourself up for any of the choices you’ve made. Approach it with kindness for yourself and understanding of your unique circumstances and environment.

You might start to notice how all four of these areas are interwoven. Getting a bad night’s sleep might mean you’re less inclined to eat nutritious food the following day. A diet that doesn’t support your energy requirements could lead to a stressful day. Ongoing stress might mean you’re less inclined to exercise. Avoiding regular exercise could contribute to your bad sleep, and so the cycle continues.

Next week we’ll look more closely at these observations, and start to think about the manageable steps we can implement to create some positive change. In the meantime, I challenge you to an outdoor excursion this weekend. Head out for a walk, a bike ride or even an ocean swim. Take a moment to pause and appreciate your body for all the ways it shows up for you every day.

Your body is a temple and all that, right? So let’s get cracking.

Samantha Bluemel is a personal trainer and the founder of new Ponsonby fitness studio Mode, which opens in March. The 2024 Transformation series continues next week.

Samantha wears AJE Athletica