The new year is almost upon us, and many of us will make resolutions to lose weight, get into better shape.
And … many of us will never follow through on them.
Oh, sure, we’ll get some new running shoes and hit the road or treadmill on January 2nd, but things will come up, or running will be too difficult, or we’ll get injured, or … and that will be the end of that.
Oh, sure, we’ll buy 30 — no, 60 — days of a mail order diet plan, and we’ll stick to it the first few days, but that will become inconvenient, or the meals won’t taste that good, or, dammit we’re hungry … and that will be the end of that.
What is it about humans that we form these great plans to do things we know we should do, but then, at the first sign of adversity or inconvenience, we give up?
How do we continue to live with ourselves after we’ve let ourselves down like that? Here we are, still 30 or 40 or 60 or 80 or 100 pounds overweight with high blood pressure and no breath after walking up a flight of steps. We know what we need to do … but we don’t do it. What the hell is wrong with us?
I can only speak for myself, and for me the answer was that I felt I was just too old to get fit.
Heck, when I was in my early 20s and my pants got a little tight, I could go on a low-carb diet and lose weight fast. No exercise, pounds melted off.
As I got older, my body reacted slower to changes I made. I didn’t see results as fast, so I quickly lost interest in what I was doing. Whatever it was — diet, exercise program — it obviously did not work, and it did not work because I was too old. Look around? How many men 40-plus-year-old men are in shape? Something happens as we age, I reasoned, that makes it impossible to get fit.
Well, maybe not impossible with a little help, but I wonder how many copies of Tony Horton or Shaun T or Chalene exercise programs have been ordered, but only little, if ever, used. Do you have one … somewhere?
Part of the problem may be that we have no great incentive, because we have not had the significant emotional experience that helps keep us on track.
We have not had the heart attack or the divorce or the diabetes diagnosis that makes our health and fitness issues more real to us. We’re not perfect, but we’re okay, and, well, those chocolate cake donuts from Dunkin do taste pretty good.
Another piece of the problem is that we often set our sights too high.
Sure, we want to lose 50 pounds, but why do we do that to ourselves? 50 is great as a long-term goal, but for the short term, it is impossible. Why not start with 10 pounds, or an inch and a half off the waist, some number that is more manageable? Once we accomplish that, then move on to the next 10 pounds or inch-and-a-half.
My personal quest for fitness has taken a slow road. I lost a lot of weight with diet and a little walking. Then I added more walking along with some pushups, pullups, and crunches. Then I got into P90X, and from there into Insanity. Now I do workouts from both those programs, plus some I made up myself, and yoga.
I’ve been at it for more than four years now, and I still have a way to go to reach my final fitness goals, but I am not too discouraged.
After all, I’ve seen great results in body shape, my blood tests show severely reduced levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides, and my blood pressure is normal after many years of being way too high. I am on no longer on medications of any kind. I may never reach my final fitness goals, but those kinds of results keep me going.
How about you? What kind of results will keep you going?
It’s another new year. How about this year we make our fitness resolutions, as usual, set long-term but also short-term results-oriented goals, and then commit ourselves to reaching them. This approach should lead us to greater success, and, as the saying goes, nothing breeds success like success.