How to Make a Fitness Resolution into a Reality
By Sara Colletti
Creator of The LIFTSWEAT Method & Hamptons Wellness on Wheels
The weather is getting colder, our hearts are feeling fuller, and t’is the season of new beginnings. I can bet a shiny nickel that this week you heard someone mention their resolution or their goal to make one; it’s legit everywhere! The most common resolutions we hear are, “I am going to get fit”, “I will lose weight”, and “I will start exercising.” The usual same old song and dance. One reason why these goals are often not achieved is because exercise is progressive and small steps are taken to make the bigger picture. It is hard to wake up one day and decide that every day you will have a kick a** workout when you don’t currently exercise. It’s a sure-fire way to burn out, become bored, and give up. Living an active lifestyle is easier for some than others, but what I have experienced through my own journey, as well as my clients is that it did not happen overnight. I want to show you where I started versus where I am now in hopes of putting this into perspective.
Growing up dancing, playing sports, and chasing boys I definitely kept myself moving but let’s fast forward to movement after college. My girlfriends and I would go for evening walks most days of the week where we would chat about life, the moon, and complaining about living with our parents. That grew into walks to the gym to take a yoga class, which increased to a run to the gym, yoga class, and walk home. If you are like me, I was not always comfortable exercising in a gym because I never knew where to start. Taking classes was by far the best way for me to gain confidence. Eventually I grew into the gym rat/ fitness freak I am today but it started with a leisure stroll around our neighborhood! Now I exercise most days a week but that took years to materialize! When making a goal or resolution it must be realistic to you and going too hard is an easy way to go home, if you know what I mean.
My advice is to start small and don’t make it a goal. Slowly make it a lifestyle. Today walk to work instead of taking the subway, find a 10 minute stretch class on YouTube, and/or grab your girls and walk circles around the mall. This will slowly yet surely get you to the place you want to be without running the risk of letting yourself down. At the end of the day, the choice to do something great for you is only for you so let’s not make it stressful. Start with building a healthy foundation.
Resolutions tend to get placed on the back burner is that it is a form of procrastination. We say, “Come new years I’m going to do…”, which is code for “I don’t want to do it so let me hold off until a specific date”. A way to troubleshoot this is to say, “I will continue to exercise”, “I will continue to finish that boss fitness program I bought”, or “I will continue to cook health tasty meals.” Don’t get me wrong, if you are someone who loves movement and practices routinely and your goal is to crush a new strength program then yes STELLARGIRL go get it! In order to achieve the most success, remember that your goal is for you and only you which means it needs to makes sense for YOU. Set yourself up for success with a resolution starting with “I will continue to….”.
