As a new year begins, it’s common to want to be ready to set fresh goals and map out plans for your success for the year. Yet, if you struggle with food, eating and/or concerns about your weight, those goals often centre around ‘controlling’ your eating or losing weight and/or finally ‘getting over’ your eating disorder.

However, research shows that many people abandon their New Year’s resolutions by February, leaving them feeling frustrated and defeated.

So let’s tackle this year in a new way. Let’s shift unrealistic goals to building inner confidence and taking care of yourself – every day.

If you’re struggling with food and body image, remember, you didn’t ask for this and you don’t deserve it.

Difficulties with food, eating and weight, including eating disorders, arise from a complex set of factors, and they perpetuate for different reasons too, one of them being that your body ends up being out of sync, you may not be adequately nourished, and the kinds of daily rhythms that are the backbone of daily life and health have been undermined.

Unrealistic goals are understandable, but they place you under enormous pressure, heightening the stress and anxiety you experience in the face of achieving them. If you are navigating an eating disorder, these kinds of goals can often end up leading to negative thoughts and self-disappointment. Setting unrealistic food or weight goals seldom leads to success; instead, it all too often leads to disappointment.

You just want your difficulties with food to go away – now, and forever. Taking things day-by-day may not be helpful, but we all know how quickly the days add up, the months go by, and next minute it is December again, and another New Year ahead.

One of the hardest things to accept is that overcoming these difficulties doesn’t happen overnight. You didn’t develop your eating difficulties overnight, and recovery isn’t something that happens overnight either. Progress takes time.

So this year, consider making just one compassionate, achievable goal for 2026: ‘Today—and every day—I will show up for myself and be the best I can be.’

Put yourself and what you really need at the centre of your aims and dreams for 2026. Let your goals be gentle, realistic, supportive, doable on a daily basis and underpinned by a commitment to self-care, knowing that you deserve the life you want. 

As part of showing up for yourself and being the best you can be, think about:

• Reaching out for the help you need: Building a supportive network. Healthcare professionals can be vital to provide the therapeutic support you need. People who have recovered from what you may be going through—with a lived experience of your battles – can make your recovery journey less isolating, and more meaningful.
• Connecting with others while gently moving your body: Gentle movement and being social with people you trust or learn to trust can help you recentre and relieve stress. Connection is very powerful in recovery, removing the isolation you may feel. Classes like Pilates or yoga encourage mindful, intentional movement and support overall wellbeing. Even simple activities—like walking with a friend, starting a small vegetable garden with your family, or joining people in your community at your local Park Run—can help you reconnect with the environment and others in a positive way.
• Revisiting activities you used to love: Eating difficulties often consume time and mental space. Re-engaging with hobbies or interests you’ve set aside can help shift your focus and bring joy back into your daily life.
• Letting go of perfection: Instead of aiming for perfection, and trying to be perfect when it comes to what you eat, what you look like and how much you weigh. With the right people around you, they will love you for who you are, and want the best for you. Rather, let each hour, each morning, afternoon, and evening be an opportunity to be the best you can be. Think about going to bed at night, knowing that you have taken a small step to support your journey back to health, and that you have been the best that you can be.

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, please seek help.