With midnight approaching and champagne filling your glass,
did you vow to improve your health, get in shape, lose some weight, fit back in
to a favorite pair of jeans, lower your cholesterol, or just feel better and
more energetic? Did you toast the New Year proclaiming to exercise more, diet,
and make important changes in order to achieve your resolution? With your past experiences of success and failure informing your expectation, perhaps you entered January full of good intention and bets against yourself about how long you actually will continue to pursue this year’s resolution.
"Pouring two cha Flickr as Two champagne glasses. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons -
"Pouring two cha Flickr as Two champagne glasses. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons -
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pouring_two_champagne_glasses.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Pouring_two_champagne_glasses.jpg
I started off this week by searching “creating weight loss
goals from New Year’s resolutions” using Google. I got around 15,700,000 results
and so decided that I would not start this week’s post with specific news
headlines or recently published papers. Instead, this week differs from
previous weeks. This week I write about what I know and think. More like a blog
post and less like a literature review and commentary, I guess.
Explore what you really want
Making a resolution can be an official step towards creating
change in your life. You will experience more success if you clarify what you
really want to achieve.
Look closely at your resolution
and consider what you really want. Sometimes it is difficult to see it
behind the scenes of your resolution. For
example, if your resolution is to get back to what you weighed when you were 26
and you are now 46, consider what it is about that time you most want to get
back. Is it a number on a scale? Is it how much energy you had when you were 26?
Is it your 26 year old lifestyle? What was your fitness level at that time?
Were your cholesterol levels better then compared to now (did you even know
what they were)? What about your blood pressure and overall life stressors then
versus now?
When you think about
your New Year’s resolution, what do you foresee as being different once you
have achieved your goal? How do you feel now and how do expect to feel when
you reach your goal? For example, if you made a resolution to lose a
significant amount of weight (let’s say 30 pounds), you will have more energy.
You also will discover that your joints and back have less pressure placed on
them which likely will alleviate some discomfort in your knees and lower
back. As a result, you can participate in more activities that you currently
avoid. You also may discover that you have more energy when you are not
carrying extra body fat and that will also allow you to enjoy activities
longer. You can be more physically engaged with your kids as you lose weight
and increase your physical strength. For this person with the goal to lose 30
pounds, more consideration reveals that other quality of life factors matter
more than the actual number of 30 pounds.
What is most
important to you about your New Year’s resolution? Is there a reunion
coming up that prompted your resolution? Do you want to lose weight to improve
your metabolic health so that you can take less medication? Are you most
focused in finding ways to improve stress management? Do you want to exercise
more to improve your quality of sleep? If your goal is to get back into a
favorite pair of jeans, think about what the jeans represent. Consider what has
changed in your life since you last wore them. Ask yourself if those jeans are
from a time period in your life that represents something connected to fitness
and health? Sometimes objects and numbers get intertwined with more valuable
components of your resolution. Starting tease that apart will help you create
goals that are meaningful and measurable.
Set short-term goals in addition to long-term ones
Maybe it is the champagne, glitz and crystal ball drop or
the Euchre and home-brewed beer, but most New Year’s resolution makers aim
high. That is okay but at some point early on in the year it is important to
convert the resolution(s) into realistic and attainable goals. You will find
more success by examining your resolutions and creating goals for them.
Long-term goals and short-term goals help motivate you and keep you focused.
There is a strictness about resolutions - an
all-or-nothingness to them. Goals, however, are fluid. Goals are
assessed, evaluated and updated on a regular basis.
Long-term goals:
Long-term goals refer to goals that are more than 6 months in the future.
This gets a bit dicey sometimes because expectation and
reality may differ. You may not realize when your goal is a long-term goal. Your overall weight loss and fitness goals are usually long-term goals. Weight loss
takes time and involves a combination of diet and exercise to be successful.
The guideline for weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week. Maintenance of weight
lost is an ongoing effort and is effectively a long-term goal.
Short-term goals: These
goals are attainable over a shorter period of time (within 3-6 months).
Short-term goals make long-term goals possible. I do not
know how to achieve a long-term goal without approaching it from creating and
reaching a series of short-term goals. Short-term goals provide opportunities
for success, increase motivation, and enhance focus. Short-term goals can
stand-alone or exist as part of a plan to achieve a long-term goal.
Knowing what you really and truly want is important because
this influences your goals. If your desire to lose weight stems
from often feeling sluggish, or if you are concerned about your metabolic
health (cholesterol, blood pressure), or if you are concerned because you experience some aches and
pains in your knees, specific goals can be created for you to target those
issues. An entirely different set of goals are created for a physically active and
metabolically fit person who wants to prepare for a marathon. Both people
benefit from goals, but the goals are entirely different.
Examples of some of the initial short-term goals for a
currently sedentary overweight or obese person starting a weight loss endeavor
may include some of the following: 1) after receiving medical clearance from
his doctor, engage in physical activity 3 days a week for at least 30 minutes; 2)
choose fresh fruit for dessert at least 5 days a week; 3) bring lunch to work at
least 3 days a week; 4) get a physical in 6 months or sooner if directed by the
physician. These are measurable goals. After a couple of months some of these
goals will be evaluated and possibly revised.
Realistic
You have decided that you are ready to let go of something
that has, for whatever reason, been a part of your life for a long time and you
are ready to bring in new things. In reality, there will be struggles
and that is okay. Obstacles are a part of reality. It is important to recognize
and prepare for the ones you know about because there always will be others that pop-up and surprise you. Making real health-related change involves
adopting new eating s and exercise/activity habits. Some days will be easier
than others. Parts of some days will be easier than others. Lifestyle change is
hard. It is also exciting, challenging, a little frightening, and rewarding.
What are the
potential obstacles? To identify your known obstacles, focus on your short-term
goals and think about what things may get in your way as you work on each
goal. Everyone faces obstacles. Everyone!
If your goal is to go to the gym 3 days a week and you start
to find it difficult to get there 3 days a week, examine what prevents you from
getting there. If you can figure out what stops you from getting there you can
find a solution. It can be very helpful to work this through with another
person – a partner, a friend, a personal trainer, s health coach or a counselor.
At one time or another, everyone has become tangled up in her own circle of
thought. This can be especially true when you are trying to make change and
dealing with internal (thoughts) and/or external obstacles. An outsider’s
perspective can be useful to support and help you to find solutions as
you face obstacles.
Realistic goals and expectations. If you set goals with
a professional, she will help you create realistic goals. If you create them
yourself, remember to be realistic. Look at your past successes and failures
and use them to guide you. If you know that you can do almost anything for a
couple of months but are then left exhausted, hungry, and running back to what
you were doing before, perhaps a more gradual approach to change may be in
order. For example, consider an incremental approach to introducing small and
manageable changes. Let your mind and body adjust and then challenge yourself
with more. Lifestyle change is a mindset and not a diet. To me, diets are
temporary and a life of dieting is not sustainable.
Enjoy Yourself
You declared a resolution, possibly in a public setting, and
courageously followed up by setting goals and working on them. That is big
stuff. Change is not easy but it can and should be fun. Accomplishments matter,
are worthy of your acknowledgement and you can only give yourself credit if you
set realistic goals that are specific and measurable.
Start with just with a few short-term goals. If you are
starting physical activity for the first time in a long time, make sure you are
healthy enough to do it. If you are over 40, have not been physically active in
the past few months, and/or have high blood pressure, heart disease or
diabetes, you need to get medical clearance from your doctor before starting a
new physical activity program. You do not want to hurt yourself making
healthful changes. If you have recently joined a gym as part of your New Year’s
resolution, please take advantage of the fitness tour and/or assessment offered
by most fitness facilities. Gyms want you to know how to use the equipment and
staff are trained on how to use it. At most places, the staff really enjoy
showing people how to use equipment.
Find one or more physical activities that you enjoy.
"US Army 52862 Zumba adds Latin dance to fitness routine" by Brittany Carlson (USAG Stuttgart) - United States Army. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Army_52862_Zumba_adds_Latin_dance_to_fitness_routine.jpg#mediaviewer/File:US_Army_52862_Zumba_adds_Latin_dance_to_fitness_routine.jpg
It is highly unlikely that you will continue to engage in physical activity that you hate. If you hate running or it causes you pain, it is not the activity for you. If you love walking go outside, try treadmills or tracks. For those who like bicycling, there is cycling outdoors and indoors (upright and recumbent). Some people like elliptical trainers. Some people like aerobics classes. There is yoga, Pilates, swimming, etc. Strength training and stretching are important components of any fitness program. It is recommended that you learn proper strength training and stretching technique from a professional because it will reduce the risk of injury.
It is highly unlikely that you will continue to engage in physical activity that you hate. If you hate running or it causes you pain, it is not the activity for you. If you love walking go outside, try treadmills or tracks. For those who like bicycling, there is cycling outdoors and indoors (upright and recumbent). Some people like elliptical trainers. Some people like aerobics classes. There is yoga, Pilates, swimming, etc. Strength training and stretching are important components of any fitness program. It is recommended that you learn proper strength training and stretching technique from a professional because it will reduce the risk of injury.
If you are interested in making a lasting change to improve
your health, make choices you want to live with. If you made a New Year’s
resolution to make a health-related change in your life, you will have greater
long-term success if you avoid fad diets. There are healthy eating plans out
there that promote healthy weight and metabolic health. The DASH diet and the
Mediterranean style of eating are both examples.
Some related posts on this blog
Resource
American Council on Exercise: ACE Health Coach Manual: The Ultimate Guide to Wellness, Fitness & Lifestyle Change.
