January really can feel magical. The clean-slate energy. The new planners. The excuse to color-code your entire life if you so fancy!

Fresh starts can be empowering, and there is nothing wrong with wanting to feel renewed, organized, grounded, or even excited about change.

The problem isn’t the desire for a reset. The problem is that diet culture tries to claim ownership over it. Every year, it swoops in right when we’re hopeful and motivated and whispers, “You know what would really improve your life? Shrinking yourself.” Suddenly, “new beginnings” become “new restrictions,” and self-improvement becomes self-surveillance.

But fresh starts and new years DO NOT require shrinking. They never have.

Imagine if January goals focused on things that actually bring expansion: more joy, more rest, more connection, more creativity.

Imagine feeling proud of yourself without tying that pride to a number on a scale or the size of your jeans.

That version of a reset is still powerful. It’s still transformative. And it doesn’t ask you to become less.

So this year, if you are looking to start fresh,choose the kind of “new me” that feels like growth, not erasure. You don’t have to make your body smaller to make your life bigger.

L x