“To the gym five days a week! Lose 25 pounds before my trip to Mexico. Quit coffee and cut back my chocolate habit!”
Does this sound familiar? Of course it does, you said the same thing last year.
New Year’s resolutions are only as good as your ability to follow through with them, otherwise they are just good intentions. Unfortunately good intentions cannot help you lose that 25 pounds before February.
As humans, change is a slow and arduous process. According to leading researchers in human behavior, people go through 4 crucial steps before change takes place in their life.
1. Contemplation
2. Preparation
3. Action
4. Maintenance
Contemplation – an idea or intention. In the case of New Year’s, it is to take your health seriously. Good for you!
Preparation – the idea of being “fit by February,” and a “bombshell on the beach” is appealing, so you pump yourself up for Monday morning with a two year membership to the local gym. No more chocolate, and no more excuses.
At this point you have a plan, now it’s time for action! Your alarm goes off at 5:30am Monday morning, you skip the java and drag yourself into the gym for 6:00am. You stare at a room filled with dumbbells, treadmills, and the hacksquathammerdipper…thingy. Comfortable? I think not! You decide to get on the treadmill, everyone knows how to walk/run right? Freshly decked out in new sneakers, and Lululemon athletic wear, you start the treadmill. After lightly walking for the first couple of minutes, you look beside you and see a woman who has 20 years on you, running at 7.5 mph. You crank up the speed. After what seems like 20 minutes of heavy breathing, and wishing you were anywhere but there, you get to your destination – the end of running.
Time for weight training. With dumbbells in hand you watch the guy to your left do the military press and you follow his lead. After a grueling set of 15, you decide to try your hand at crunches. Staring at the ceiling you manage to raise and lower your body 30 times and decide that you’ve probably put in enough for today, after all you don’t want to overdo it on your first day.
What happens next is what keeps us from executing the integration of our plans into daily routine – discomfort. Not only does your entire body hurt from throwing yourself back into a fitness routine after a few months/years hiatus, but you’re tired. The prospect of getting up at 5:30 the next morning seems horrendous, the idea of skipping your coffee when you’re feeling a little sleepy is ludicrous and you may even say to yourself “self, I worked out yesterday, a little chocolate won’t hurt.” Your resolution has turned back into a good intention.
Instead of setting huge, often unattainable goals once a year, try setting small ones once a week or once a month. Being able to achieve small goals on a regular basis is good for your ego, and will keep you motivated and excited to continue on your “journey of health.” By addressing your state of health and your health goals regularly, you’ll keep them top of mind. We challenge our patients to improve their health a tiny bit every day; to cut their intake of chocolate by 25%, start light walking with friends, or even to get to the gym once each week. Starting slowly will allow you to progress at a comfortable rate until you are ready to take it to the next level!
Lastly, the road to health is paved with good intentions and the resolve to get there. Health isn’t something that you can whip up in the month of January and ride out until December. Going to the gym once, or even three times a week for a single month does not a healthy person make. You don’t just brush your teeth once a year, or eat a vegetable once a month or wash your hands once a week; they’re all important parts of your regular health routine! And so should regular exercise, quitting smoking, cutting back on sugar and caffeine be. Some are harder than others, some require the help of professionals like a nutritionist, or a personal trainer, but knowing the steps to take and having the resolve to take them will put you on the right path. You may not be able to be “fit by February”, but you may be just in time to be “leaner for life” or more importantly set a great example for your kids to adopt lifetime healthy habits.
Remember, you need to be healthy to run a marathon, but you don’t need to run marathon to be healthy! Have fun on your health journey!
Yours in health,
Dr. Travis Pillipow DC and Dr. Sarah Tremblay DC
Dr. Travis Pillipow DC, BSc.
Dr. Sarah Tremblay, DC BHPE
Health In Hand Family Chiropractic
104-1195 Industrial Rd.
Kelowna, BC
VIZ 1G4
250-454-9474
http://www.healthinhand.ca/
Adjusting you for a better life!
