Eating Disorder Charity urges rethink of ‘New Year, New You’ resolutions
They say too often it's focused on weight, and this needs to change
An eating disorder charity is urging people to rethink traditional “New Year, new you” resolutions, warning that weight-focused goals and diet messaging can be harmful for those in recovery.
Debbie Watson, founder of eating disorder support charity Wednesday’s Child, says the annual pressure to change body size or eating habits at the start of the year is a “tired trope” that resurfaces every January.
“Oh goodness. So the new New Year, new you thing, I mean… It’s a tired trope, really, for me,” she said. “How can I change myself? How can I enhance myself? How can I reduce my waist size?”
Concerns about weight loss injections
Watson said she is particularly concerned about the growing influence of weight-loss messaging online, especially as so-called quick fixes become more visible.
“We’ve gone from a little bit of media coverage around fad diets to now it’s just ratcheted up so significantly, we're definitely in this era of weight loss jabs and people feeling quick fix and make themselves, shrink into an even smaller body,” she said.
She added that this will likely be the first New Year where weight-loss injections play a prominent role in online content.
“It’ll be interesting to see how much they get talked about and certainly how much they start appearing on people’s algorithms on their social media,” she said. “I imagine it will be quite a lot.”
The impact of weight loss resolutions
Watson stressed that for people living with eating disorders, traditional New Year’s resolutions around body change are not helpful.
“Anybody in that eating disorder community, I would just say, that New Year, new you rubbish, it’s not for you,” she said. “The only way you need to change yourself in the new year is by staying committed fully and wholly to your recovery.”
She also encouraged people to be mindful of the conversations they have with friends and family during January, particularly when it comes to diet and weight.
“If that’s your thing and you really want to talk about this new diet you’re going to do, good for you,” but she emphasised how important it can be to express when conversations are making you uncomfortable.
"In the past, I've had a really tricky relationship with food, weight, and exercise, and I've said to people, 'I just don’t need to have that as my conversation with you. You’ve got 101 other things you can talk to me about. I don’t need to hear about your diet,” she added. “And really, it’s just boring. It’s just flipping boring.”
Other resolutions
Instead of resolutions focused on restriction or weight loss, Watson believes the start of the year can be an opportunity to focus on experiences, learning and personal reflection.
“I think checking in with yourself over that New Year’s period and saying to yourself, ‘Am I happy with where I am and how hard I am trying at the things I said I was going to work on this year?’” she said.
“It could be about self-improvement, it could be about learning something, it could be about the relationships you’ve got in your life,” she added. “It could be about the fact that you’re stagnating a bit.”
Watson shared her own approach to the New Year, explaining that rather than setting resolutions, she reflects through writing.
“Every New Year I write a letter to myself,” she said. “It’s a bit of a kind of check in with myself… ‘Dear Debbie, where are you at? Dear Debbie, what do you want from the new year?’”
She said the timing of self-reflection is less important than the willingness to be honest.
“I’m not a New Year’s resolution fan,” she said. “If you’re somebody who’s sat there with something like an eating disorder, I would say you could change that on the 14th day of October as easily as you could change that on the 1st of January, so don’t wait to do a resolution.”
However, she acknowledged that the start of the year can still serve as a moment to pause.
“There is that seasonal cleanse time of an opportunity to just rethink, where’s your brain at? Where’s your life at? And check in with yourself,” she said.
Eating Disorder help
BEAT- Eating disorder charity.
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Call: 0808 801 0677
NHS Adult Eating Disorder Service
If you are in need of urgent help or medical advice for yourself or someone else, please contact 999 or the Samaritans on 116 123 if you or someone else is in immediate danger. If you are looking for medical advice, contact your GP or 111.