"I am going to get in shape!"
"I want to lose 30 pounds!"
"I am going to stop smoking!"
These type of new year resolutions regurgitate out of every one's mouth this time of season, yet we know that it will be a distant memory by February. However, it continues to occur. Every individual goes with the best of intentions to start the new year right. To make a change. To alter one's sedentary lives but ends in failure 98% of the time (an accurate assumption).
How does that occur?
What can everyone change to keep their promises to themselves?
It's simpler than you think.
Let's start with the most common New Year's Resolution out there: I want to be a healthier me!
Before we begin, let's analyze that last statement. The first question that comes to mind is what does healthy mean to that respective person because it is such a loose and vague term these days, it's lost its' bearing on society. I have gotten in multiple conversations where Chinese food and pizza are considered healthy options. As hard is that to hear, I can understand where one can get that conclusion.
The FDA has recently classified pizza as a vegetable due to the contents of tomato sauce (1). Tomato sauce! Plus, the FDA requires two vegetables sides for every lunch meal served. So let's due some simple addition: the FDA has already classified french fries as a vegetable, add pizza and chicken nuggets on this diversified and ethnically cultured menu (2) to get:
Chicken Nuggets + French Fries + Pizza=
Look how whiny that kid looks... it's starting to piss me off and I am the one who uploaded the darn photo...moving on
(1)Ingredients for Tomato Sauce: 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 7 cloves of minced garlic, tomato paste (water, citric acid, tomatoes form concentrate, 2 cans of tomato puree, 1 teaspoon of white sugar, 2 teaspoons of dried basil leaves, 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper & 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Now, this is from a home cooked recipe. Did you see any tomatoes in there? Can you imagine what Sodexho sends every school? Yikes! No wonder we suck at health.
(2) I love writing sarcastically
So right from the start, we are running up hill. Even when I started eating healthier, I considered pizza, Chinese food, and baked potato chips to be legitimate healthy options. It's understandable. Our education on nutrient and mineral based food is embarrassing. It took me three years to fully grasp what the definition of health means.
Now, millions of people want to eat healthy and get in shape but have no idea how to start. Let's delve into this.
It is so easy to find a good workout in today's technological age. The excuse "I don't have time to workout" is effin ridiculous and inexcusable anymore. You can put in a solid workout in 15 minutes. There is even T-25, which is a tough 25 minute a day workout plan designed by the creator of "Insanity". There are hundreds of on demand workout videos included with a simple cable package, youtube videos, and workout based websites (www.active.com). Do you also notice how conveinent gyms are these days? You can't go 5 miles without accidently finding one in central Jersey. We are in a boom of workout facilities. Ever since obesity has been labeled a disease (another genius move), more and more pop up with competing membership dues. Even getting a trainer is inexpensive. I remember when I was growing up, only the wealthy could afford a trainer. Now, they offer them in starter packages...for free! So don't blame your lack of physical condition on anything but yourself.
The crazy thing is that isn't the root of the problem. Every one who makes New Year's Resolutions are doomed to fail because of one reason. It's to vague. The terms of the goal are open for interpretation which most people do because they feel it gives them the opportunity to adapt to what everyday life throws at them, but don't you already see the problem with that.
One foot is out of the door before anything begins.
If you want to get in shape, sign up for a race. Any race! If you don't want to compete or find it pointless but want to lose weight, set a goal with a deadline. Then, when you hit a deadline, set a new one with new goals, change up your plan because the last thing you want to do is become redundant. But once you set a goal, whether it be for a race or weight loss, write a plan out, document your progress, blog your daily trials and tribulations. Build on the experience. The moment you don't define a set of rules to follow, chaos will slowly take over and leave you right where you started. Acutally, it will leave you in a worse state since defeat and dejection will settle underneath your skin. Then, you will make excuses and blame things that are totally within your control to make yourself feel better.
Don't do it!
It isn't worth it!
This brings me to my final point. If you really want to reach a goal. Start now! If you are reading this, stop, go downstairs, hit the floor and do some push ups and marine sit ups (don't do tradition sit ups, they are terrible for your back and neck. Plus, they don't do a damn thing for you). Don't start your diet on a Monday. Don't wait until New Year's Resolutions to begin a path down to a healthier life. Start right now! Once you decide the resolution for this year, you are already putting the goal on a pedestal, which isn't always a bad thing, but in this case, you are setting yourself up to fail. Don't do it. Get started right now! The resources for a better lifestyle are abundant. It's easier than you think and have fun with it.
It will pay dividends down the line.
Hope to see you at the starting line...
Stay Tuned
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