Stay a Fitness Resolution-Ary!
Looking For The Weight-Loss Magic Bullet? Not Here!
January's almost over. The gyms are packed with would-be success stories. Learn how you can be kept from the "weight-loss graveyard."
You bought the gym memberships, have a Saturday metting with a chipper Jenny Craig staffer, donated your "wide load" last summer's clothes and sacrificed at the altar the swimsuit that could mimic a parachute, save for the Spandex.
How many New Year's "Resolution-Aries" in the weight loss category will be in the graveyard by this March? Statistically, it's estimated about $12 million in lapsed gym memberships will be spent this year....just a drop in the $1.6 billion fitness industry bucket. Think that's a shameful waste of money? Here's some pointers how NOT to waste yours and to jumpstart your road to top-notch health and wellness.
Visit free weight loss sites like www.yourbestlife.com or www.ivillage.com. These sites offer articles, tips, recipes and support. Yourbestlife.com offers a downloadable contract with yourself drawn together with the help of Oprah Winfrey and her personal trainer, Bob Greene to keep you committed to this new lifestyle for a year. (No, this isn't an endorsement to Oprah, nor did Harpo Productions pay me for this--but considering she's battling the same "gotta get healthy" mantra like the rest of us, solidarity never hurts.)
Get Your Head In The Game---While this is a no-brainer, you'll be quite surprised how hard this is to do. You've been heavy or morbidly obese for a good deal of your life. A change in focusfrom a doubtful "Can I really do this?" to a positive "Yes, you can!" is best said to yourself several times a day. Before you enjoy the rebuilding of Project: You...
Plan!-- Learn what sabotages your weight loss efforts to start with. You know this already, but do you implement it? Do you find loose ends in your plans? Or do you look to make your plans failproof? As you choose to get healthier--or whatever you embark on to take charge of your life--you're going to come across naysayers, and all-around jerks who'll tell you you can't do this. If nothing else sticks here, maybe this will: No one can motivate you but YOU. If anything, prove the naysayers wrong--but don't lose the weight BECAUSE of them.
Get Deep (And No, Not Just in Squats, Either)--Your weight loss efforts are for naught if you don't deal with why you'd gained it in the first place. Gastric bypass isn't a quick fix any more than any other "magic bullet" diet fad or weight loss program is. Please make sure to really unearth your issues and slay those demons once and for as you embark on this lifestyle. Unsightly fat is a sheild to larger, undealt-with problems in some cases. If this means friends or loved ones need to be cut from your life for you to get your insulin levels back to normal, it'll be a tough choice to make, but you're looking out for YOU. Isn't dealing with issues rather than to die from an otherwise preventable disease? Aren't YOU worth it?
Make It In Small Trips--Say you've 209 pounds to lose. Looks damn depressing, doesn't it? Yes--and no. Instead of seeing "209" as the end goal, set the number to take that many more steps in a day. "209" could be that many on-your-knees pushups you'll do this month. An attainable goal, just for today: walk around the block for five minutes. By the end of this week, maybe you've exercised four times before Sunday. By the end of this month, set a goal you'll exercise ten to twelve times. If taken in smaller steps, that 209 pounds to lose won't be such a beast of burden to tackle. As it's said, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
Find a Fun Workout Program-- Every body is different (well, duh!), right? Seriously, it is. What particular vegetable you eat works better for you than what particular veggie works for the next guy. Not into the aerobics class she's into? Kick around a soccer ball with the kids or take the dog out for a run. Basketball's not your thing? Try a Spinning class. Your budget's too slim for a gym membership? Consider drill instructors-like fitness trainer like Jillian Michaels, Jay Johnson or Harvey Walden IV on at-home workout DVDs and go for it!
Get Accountable---This one's the hardest to get your head (and heart) around. This country's gotten as soft in the psyche as its citizens have around the middle--and the only way to be free of the excess holiday goo is to be held in account for it. You can't do this alone and it's harder to B.S. your way from a morning workout when your weight loss buddy left his or her warm bed to stand in the pre-dawn dark to haul their tails into gear with you, too. Message boards like those on Beachbody.com are a great way for the accountability to happen and it takes the form of competitions. You can also employ your kids. If you don't workout for a day, barring illness, you owe them something. Make it FUN but don't make it easy on yourself. You'll be glad you did.
The bottom line--well, okay, poor choice of words, but you get the gist--is that you want to get and stay healthy for you. Whatever your fitness goals are this year-- getting off the heart or high blood pressure meds, qualifying for a lower health insurance premium, fitting into an airline seat without a belt extender or lowering your dangerously high sugar levels--If you shed weight for reasons other than for yourself, that weight will return. It's a sad statistic you don't want to be part of.
This year's about a healthier YOU! So go make it a GOOD one!
