Women's Health in the New Year

By Suzanne Fenske, MD, FACOG, ABOIM, MSCP

5 Mindset Tips for the New Year

Welcome 2025! It’s time for self-reflection, New Year’s resolutions, and all the ways you can be a better version of yourself in the future. Or is the whole construct of health-related resolutions just setting you up for shame, failure, and self-sabotage?

Most of us know what we “should” be doing to support our health journeys, prevent disease, and optimize hormones, but we all have barriers to putting the pieces in place. Let’s face it; change is hard!

In this article, we won’t give you tips about getting better sleep or eating more veggies (although those are important!). Instead, we’re going to talk about mindset, how you think about self-care, and how to bring more kindness and compassion to your health challenges this year.

Keep reading as we discuss five mindset tips for women’s health:

1. Set realistic goals
2. Start with tiny habits
3. Adopt an attitude of gratitude
4. Explore the grey area
5. Tune into how you feel

Set Realistic Goals

If you feel guilty for eating all the things or letting exercise slip over the holidays, it’s no wonder that setting resolutions feels like a clean slate and fresh start. First thing’s first: let the guilt go and read on.

Second, consider setting goals instead of making resolutions.

New Year’s resolutions tend to be sweeping and non-specific. They address what you want to change but don’t offer a strategy for how to change. To be successful, you need a plan.

Unlike resolutions, goals can be specific, actionable, and measurable, giving you a roadmap for building new habits. Afterall, consistent habits over time transform your health.

Some examples of health-related resolutions are:

• Lose weight
• Exercise more
• Eat a healthy diet
• Reduce stress
• Drink less alcohol
• Drink more water
• Get more sleep

See how they are great ideas but aren’t very specific? How will you know if you achieved the goal? In contrast, look at these SMART goals, which are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound:

• I will meal plan, grocery shop, and food prep each Sunday for the week to come.
• I will take a 30-minute walk during my lunch break 3 times weekly.
• I will download a meditation app and commit 5 minutes daily before bed.
• I will set an alarm for 9 pm to start my bedtime routine.

Because goals are achievable and realistic, they can be a stronger force than resolutions. And, while resolutions are tied to January, you can set new goals anytime throughout the year. Start with one and grow from there.

Start with Tiny Habits

Sometimes, even goals can be too much, especially when working on an area of health that feels particularly challenging. In this case, break the goal into smaller parts by starting with the tiniest action.

For example, instead of starting with a 30-minute walk if you are new to walking or recovering from an injury, start with 5 minutes (or even 1 minute). You could begin strength training with one pushup or one bicep curl. Or start eating more vegetables with just one bite at dinner. Make the action so small that you know you can achieve it and will actually do it. At first, it’s more about exercising the new habit than the exercise (or other change) itself. Then, adding more time to your walk or more veggies to your plate is easier.

This framework helps you prioritize building the daily habits that build health and resiliency over time. Most of us desire health outcomes, like preventing chronic disease, having a smooth perimenopause, or balancing hormones with PCOS. All the goals that lead to these outcomes can start with a teeny tiny habit.

The truth is that building new habits is uncomfortable; your body and brain naturally prefer what you’ve always done instead. But the more you repeat the new habit, the more the behavior becomes ingrained. Eventually, it’s automatic; it’s something you do and who you are.

Attitude of Gratitude

It’s often easy to focus on what we don’t have instead of what we already do. Chances are that you’ve probably already made significant strides with your health and built new habits. You have resources and access to care (like TārāMD) that align with your wellness goals. So, even if you want to accomplish more, like getting rid of pesky symptoms or optimizing your metabolic labs, take a moment to notice what’s going well and the health you’ve already cultivated. 

Research shows that practicing gratitude helps reduce stress, increase happiness, and promote resilience. It can be part of a treatment plan for anxiety, depression, and other health challenges. Gratitude practices may look like journaling (write down three things you are grateful for) or reflection (share what you are thankful for with yourself or others daily).

Gratitude is also a mindset. By looking for the good in what is, you train your brain to focus on the positive, increasing positive feelings and emotions and translating to better health.

Get Comfortable with the Grey Area

As a woman in the modern world, you are all too familiar with impossible beauty standards and the pressure to look and act a certain way. The cultural pressure is one factor that leads to unhealthy behaviors around food and body, which ultimately affect health and may work against wellness goals.

Let’s take dieting as an example. Following a fad diet or any form of extreme food restriction is not sustainable. In fact, most people who lose weight on a weight-loss diet will regain the weight in just a year or two. The weight returns because you can’t stick to the plan, willpower runs out, and biology takes over to get your body nutrition. You likely swing from restriction to the other extreme of overeating or feeling out of control.

The mindset shift here is away from the all-or-nothing, on-again-off-again rollercoaster and towards getting comfortable with the grey area, middle ground.

Dieting doesn’t work. It’s a short-term fix by nature, but you desire a long-term lifestyle solution. Building a healthy lifestyle is the grey area. It won’t be as restrictive as a diet, but it’s also not without guardrails. Finding peace in the middle and what works for you can be scary when you are used to rules. Start small by building the habits that align with where you want to go.

Pay Attention to How You Feel

Your body is constantly communicating its needs in the form of symptoms and sensations. We just don’t often tune in to listen or have forgotten how because of all the external cues we receive about what we “should” be eating or doing.

2025 is the year for curiosity, tuning in, and connecting with your body’s wisdom. Take mental notes or write down what you notice. The more information you collect, the more your body will guide you in day-to-day decisions that shape your health.

For example, last year, you might have said, “I’m never eating processed food,” and then restricted for a while, only to binge on it later. This year, get curious. How does processed food make you feel? After eating, what do you notice about your energy, hunger, and mood? How does eating cereal for breakfast differ from a protein-rich, whole food breakfast?

After this inquiry, you’ll be able to make decisions about what to eat based on a desire to feel good. The approach is more intuitive and aligned with your goals.

You can also tune in to how you feel around exercise to find what makes you feel good without being too much. Noticing how you feel after meditation or a good night’s sleep can make it easier to prioritize those habits. You’ll be able to build the habits you desire gently and with compassion.

Now that the New Year is here, think about what you want to change with your life and health. Then, think about how some simple mindset switches and focusing on building new habits will support you on your journey.

References

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