54: Why September is Your New January

What if I told you September is actually the best time of year to lean into your health, wellness, and fitness goals?

Seriously. We’re talking about a season that’s naturally more structured, predictable, and calm. This is your chance to ride the “back-to-school effect” and actually get goals accomplished!

In this episode, we're going to dive into why ditching the New Year's Resolution mindset and adopting a September goal-setting strategy will change everything for you.

We'll uncover how the back-to-school season provides the perfect environment for creating new habits, and how to use that to your advantage so you can start the new year with a running start.

Here’s what we’ll cover in this episode:

• The truth about why January is a terrible time for new habits and how it sets you up for failure.

• The surprising reason your nervous system loves the predictability of the back-to-school season.

• The simple method that allows you to cook one healthy, family-friendly meal, so you don't have to cook two separate dinners.

• How to finally master your schedule and use your kids' after-school activities as a secret weapon for your own self-care.

It's time to ditch the "I'll start in the new year" mentality and finally get some momentum. This is a game-changer for every busy, midlife mom who wants to feel in control of her health and life.

Resources Mentioned

• My favorite online workout library - get BODi here for less than $10/month!
• The Supper Club monthly meal plan membership. Healthy, family meals in less time!
• My favorite planner from Crush the Rush
• Healthy After School Snacks FREE guide (50+ snacks you can buy!)

More Support For You

✅ Work with Me
✅ Start losing the perimenopause weight with this FREE plan
✅ Connect with me on Instagram

Transcript

Did you know that September is the best time of year to lean into your health and fitness and wellness resolutions? I mean, you might be thinking, I don't know, Ashley, I do that in January, but today we're gonna talk about why September is actually better than January and how to make some goals that will set you up so you can actually start the new year with a bang.

All right, you ready? Okay. Now, before we get into it, I want to talk about the difference between resolutions and goals. When you hear the word resolution, you probably think like, yeah, that'd be a thing that's nice to have. Like you think about changing something, but you don't necessarily have a plan around it. Maybe you think, yeah, I'm going to resolve to eat healthier, or I'm going to resolve to get to the gym three days a week.

Or maybe I'm going to resolve to lose 25 pounds. Those all sound like really great things. But if you were to actually make those goals instead of resolutions, you can create more structure and strategy around it. You're going to put some thought into, OK, if I want to lose 25 pounds, how am I going to get that goal accomplished? What steps am I going to take? Maybe one of your

resolutions or goals could be eating healthy. And if you have that as a goal, you are going to do some things like gather new recipes. Maybe you'll research different types of diets or approaches to eating. And perhaps you'll even start shopping from different parts of the store, like the perimeter of the store typically has the healthier, less packaged and less processed food.

But most importantly, when it comes to a goal, there is usually a timeline associated with that goal. So when you create a resolution, you kind of just want it to happen, right? But with a goal, you can actually break that goal down into more manageable parts. So like the example, if you want to lose 25 pounds, you know, you just have to start with the first five pounds.

and you can figure out a structure for how to make that happen. And then you work on the next five and so on and so on until you actually hit your goal.

Goals can really be associated with an end date. And I think, and I've seen in my work with women that having an end date really helps you when it comes to staying motivated and staying disciplined. So if you wanna lose that 25 pounds between now and say the end of this year, you can actually back into how to make that happen week over week.

but you also understand that you have a deadline to hit.

And usually when we have a deadline, whether it's with our own health and fitness goals or a work goal, we will do what it takes to be able to hit that deadline. So personally, years ago, I completely abandoned the idea of resolutions. And now I just really focus on goals because for me, I can create a structure around it.

And personally, I love having a deadline to work with. If you've ever worked with me in a professional capacity, you will know. I often say, I don't know, just tell me when you need that and I will make sure that it's done for you by that date.

So deadlines for your goals can be really helpful in that regard. So why does all of this make September a better time of year to create resolutions or as we're now going to refer to them, goals? If you think about it, just think back to what is going on in January. You have pretty much wrapped up like two months of celebrating. There's Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah.

New Year's, there may be, you know, holiday parties. There's so much celebrating going on. And with that celebrating, it probably comes with foods that aren't super healthy or lots of drinking, maybe not moving your body or being as active as you usually are. And so when January rolls around, you feel super bloated and puffy. You're probably stuffed from eating so much and you're probably tired.

Plus, you're also doing a lot of cleanup from those major holidays. Just think about all of the decorations. It takes, I know for me, it takes me a couple of weekends to actually get all of my holiday decorations taken down, put away, put up the like rest of the year decorations. Maybe you've pulled out your fancy china or those serving trays that you only use once a year. And so you have to take some time and some effort to put those away.

And maybe you're even cleaning up after your overnight guests or people that were staying with you. So you've got laundry to do and bathrooms to clean and beds to remake.

After the holidays are over and kids get back to school, you are trying desperately to create some sort of rhythm and routine. You know, your kids have been out of school and it's unlike summer because with summer, you know, you will probably work through most of the summer and your kids, you kind of have to create some structured activities if they have most of the summer out of school. And so,

What happens with the holidays is that you have also taken some time off to work. So everybody's been off of school and work and there just hasn't been much structure or routine.

Depending on where you live in January, the weather can be really terrible. Around here in Colorado, we do have some nice days, but when it is snowing and cold and blustery out there, I just wanna stay inside and I cozy up on the couch. The last thing I wanna do is get outside and take a walk. So there's a lot going on in January that...

It can make goal setting a really difficult time because you are already feeling overwhelmed and tired. And honestly, you're just trying to survive and like get back into the swing of things. But September is really, really different. There truly is this thing called the back to school effect that comes into play and you feel it, whether you have school age kids at home or not. Everything feels like a fresh

start after the long dog days of summer. The weather is getting a little bit cooler. The days are getting a little bit shorter. Visually you see and are inspired by a lot of the marketing around you. Target is putting out ads that's talking about fresh new school supplies or maybe HelloFresh is advertising and they're talking about how to make healthy eating a little bit easier.

as you get into your new routine.

That back to school effect also comes into play when you look at the structure of your days and your weeks. School itself brings a huge level of predictability. You know that you have to get your kids to school at a certain time in the morning and you have to pick them up at a certain time in the afternoon. That is just a given. You can't leave your kids at school. And then if your kids have afterschool activities,

those also have regular times. And a lot of those activities take a break over the summer months. So when school starts again, those activities get ramped up again. Now, believe it or not, your nervous system absolutely loves this predictability because you know what to expect. And when you know what to expect, it helps your body to just stay more calm during the season.

So with this predictability also comes more structure and it makes it a little bit easier to implement some new routines. So like I said, you know when you need to pick up or drop off your kids at school or activities, you know exactly where your kids are going to be during the day. And believe it or not, this is gonna free up some time for you to go to the gym or walk with a friend or do some grocery shopping.

expectations for everyone in your family, it's super, super clear when it comes to who is where and what time. And so there's this built-in structure when we get into this back to school season that we just don't see during the summer or especially during the holiday season.

Like I mentioned, your kiddos are busier with afterschool activities. And here's what's cool. Depending on the age of your kids, this really can give you more personal time that you can focus and direct towards your health and wellness goals. So for me, for example, Suraya is now at this age where I can drop her off at the dance studio. And what this does is it gives me eight hours a week

that she is at dance during those times. I wouldn't be working anyway. It's either after school time or on the weekends.

So I have found that this really is a great time for me to be able to plan my weekly meals. I do some grocery shopping on my own because if you've ever dragged kids to the grocery store, you know that that's not very fun. And I also use this time, that eight hours a week to get in an extra walk.

So think about when your kids are in those afterschool activities, how can you use that time productively for you to be able to focus on your health and your fitness? Now with these afterschool activities, you're probably just naturally thinking more about nutrition in general. When your kids are in sports, they need more carbs and protein. They're like little athletes, even if they're doing a 30 minute soccer camp.

they need more carbs and protein.

So it's a great time to start thinking more holistically about nutrition for yourself and for your family. And with back to school time comes lots of snacks. There's a lot of snacks throughout the day and you're probably recognizing, you know, maybe in the summer you could be more lax with the snacks that your kids ate, but right now you're kind of tired of feeding them Cheetos and fruit snacks every day. And so you're...

actively thinking about what are some other healthy ways that I can feed my kids both meals and snacks.

Now, when you focus on a particular health or fitness or wellness goal in September, one of the really great benefits is that it gives you this built-in deadline because most people, like we talked about earlier, most people work really well on a deadline. And so how great is it to be able to say, you know what? I wanna hit these particular goals before the holidays. That right there gives you a built-in deadline.

If you're listening to this episode in real time, you have about a hundred days before the holidays. Imagine what you could do for your health and your fitness and your wellness in a hundred days. That is a ton of time. And I know you, you're probably one of those people, cause I do this too. Like you tell yourself, well, when the holidays are over, I will clean up my nutrition.

Like how many times have you said that in the middle of Thanksgiving or Christmas or Hanukkah? And you're like, no, I'm going to push it off when the holidays are over. Then I'll start working on my nutrition or when life slows down, I will figure out how to start working out or when the summer is over, I am going to start losing weight. Guess what? September it's now now right now is the time.

Now is the time to start doing all of those things. Start working out, start eating healthier, start losing weight. September, it's just naturally more structured, routine, predictable and calm. And that's why now is the best time of year to jump into a new health and fitness routine. And just think, if you start these routines now,

in 100 days from now, you can enjoy your holidays, you will have hit some of your health and wellness goals, but then you already have a massive running start come the new year. You won't be stuck like everyone else thinking, ⁓ okay, now the holidays are over and I'm feeling puffy and bloated, I overate, I'm overwhelmed, I've got all these things that I need decorations to put away, all this stuff to do, and I have to start eating healthier, and I wanna start losing weight now, no.

If you start in September, this is a gift you can give yourself that by the time January rolls around, you are just so far beyond everybody else. You're already underway with your new routines.

So I wanna share with you a little bit of what I am working on to give you some ideas for setting your own September goals. Now, keep in mind, my deadlines right now are a little bit different. I'm recovering from breast cancer surgery and I had an initial surgery earlier this summer and then I've got another surgery coming up this fall. But that's not stopping me. I am still planning to make progress on my goals well before...

the holiday season arrives.

The first thing that I'm doing is strength training and weightlifting. Now, because of my surgery over the summer, I had to take a step back from my weightlifting, but I am slowly getting back into it with weights that work with some of my current physical limitations.

With my doctor's approval, I am doing what I can. And because I have to make modifications, I'm actually really glad that I use a particular workout platform called BODi B-O-D-I. And BODi is this online library of workout programs. It has everything you can imagine, from weightlifting to yoga, 20-minute workouts, some of which are my favorite. And it lets me be able to do

everything at home. So I don't have to go to the gym first thing in the morning or after work before school pickup. I can get my workouts in before I ever take Suraya to school and then they're done for the day.

Now the BODi workouts are really ideal for this September season and especially for me because right now I'm putting more emphasis on lifting my lower body but I need to do some really different exercises for my upper body to protect my chest muscles. So on the BODi platform there are so many different workouts to choose from. It doesn't make me feel stuck with my physical limitations. There are actually programs that let me work

with my physical limitations.

If you've been searching for something like this, I will put a link for BODi in the show notes. And honestly, it is less than $10 a month if you use the link below. And this is one resource I am never without. I have worked out with the BODi programs for years and I love them to this day. So I definitely encourage you to check that out. If you're looking for a way to be able to ramp up sort of your strength training,

or your fitness routine, this is a perfect option for you.

and if you sign up, reach out to me and I will help you get started with the right program for you. We'll look quickly at what your goals are, what your deadline is and your current fitness level and I'll help you get started on the right foot.

The other thing I'm doing is really working on my nutrition. Like we had talked about, it's not just for me, it's for my entire family. But right now, my anti-inflammatory nutrition is dialed in. It is really helping my body to heal from surgery and to prepare for my next surgery.

an anti-inflammatory diet is really, does so many things for you, but it can actually help you to lose weight simply by reducing inflammation. This is why a lot of times when women start an anti-inflammatory diet, you can lose two, three, four, five pounds in a week because you reduce that inflammation. So if weight loss is a goal for you between now and the holidays or now in the end of the year,

anti-inflammatory nutrition is a must. Personally, I am working on losing a few pounds between now and my next surgery. And remember, that deadline, it really, really helps. so knowing that I've got that deadline coming up in the middle of October, eating an anti-inflammatory diet, it's really going to help me get there along with the strength training and workouts that I'm doing.

Like I mentioned earlier, your kids also need good nutrition too, especially if they are starting after school sports and physical activities and even just to help them stay well fueled during the school day.

anti-inflammatory nutrition is also going to be a great approach for them too. So I've linked to a bunch of different resources in the show notes that are gonna help you with nutrition, but one that I wanna mention is the Supper Club. And the meals in the Supper Club are exactly what I feed my family every single week. So the Supper Club is a monthly membership that gives you really healthy, but family-friendly meal plans.

And what's cool about the recipes here is that every single recipe has an anti-inflammatory option and then a more conventional or family style option. So for example, this month in the month of September, one of the recipes is pineapple chicken quesadillas. Yum, right? Like your family, they like quesadillas. And so when you want to make it anti-inflammatory, you...

create a couple of alternatives like using a gluten-free or a cassava flour tortilla. And you're gonna use my favorite bitchin sauce or Greek yogurt in place of the cheese. Your family though, they're probably gonna want a whole wheat tortilla and they're gonna want cheese, right? So a shredded Monterey Jack cheese is gonna work for them. But then you're creating the rest of the meal that works for everyone, the chicken, pineapple,

all of your toppings like peppers, green onions, jalapenos, salsa, that's gonna work for everybody. So just by making some small modifications, these recipes allow you to cook once, but still have that anti-inflammatory option and a family-friendly option. So by using this particular approach, the supper club approach to healthy nutrition, I know that I am keeping myself really healthy in this season.

and my family is also getting the benefit, but they're still getting meals and foods that they absolutely love.

The last area that I am really dialing in during this like back to school season is my schedule and planning ahead. So this truly is the best time of year to set some goals around your planning and creating a schedule that works for you and your family. Now, I don't know about you, but personally, I have been running full speed for a long time now. And so I am trying to pull back a little bit.

I wanna feel less overwhelmed with like my to-do list, the things that I need to do. Cause I know that that is gonna help me to feel better both physically and mentally. Two resources that I love using, one is my Google Calendar. So if you don't use Google Calendar, I highly recommend it. You can share it easily with your spouse or your partner, your family.

it's super easy to update. can like if you don't get something done one day you can just drag it to another day and what I love is that it's accessible on both my laptop and my phone. So if I'm doing something on my laptop or my work computer it just easily updates on my phone. So I know there are some other resources out there like Skylight I think is another popular one right now but I like the Google Calendar. It's completely free

And it allows me to see all of my, you can set up different calendars for workouts or your kids or your family activities or your work activities and everything can be color coded. So I find it to be very, very smart and it's helping me to pull back on the things that feel a little bit overwhelming and to sort of deprioritize those.

The other thing I use is a paper planner because I will forever be a paper and stationary girl. And there's a paper planner from my friend Holly at crush the rush and I'll link to it down in the show notes. It is this gorgeous quarterly planner and every quarter the cover changes. It's beautiful artwork, but with the paper planner helps me do is to calculate my goals and sort of make sure that my goals are realistic in the time that I have.

backing up to my deadline like we've talked about. It's also a really great place for me to take notes and to record my progress on my goals. I also use my paper planner for scheduling my workouts when I'll do my grocery shopping and it's a great way to be able to make my grocery list too.

I know it is really easy to put off your health and fitness and wellness goals until the beginning of the year, but I promise you there is never a perfect time. However, September in September, you still have over a hundred days in which you can hit some of those goals. So what are you waiting for? This is the time because you have this built in deadline, your life,

it's becoming more predictable right now. And you can sort of ride the wave of the season, which really is here for you to start fresh and buckle down and hit your goals.

I hope this has been helpful for you today in thinking differently about September and creating goals now and not waiting until the beginning of next year. So remember to check out the show notes for all of the links and resources that I mentioned. There are a ton of great things to take advantage of. And then I want you to reach out to me on Instagram at the Ashley Malik and tell me what health or fitness or wellness goals are you going to start?

this month.