How’s Your Resolution Going to Lose Weight This Month? Do You Need to Find a Way to Fit in Fitness?

 

Did you make a New Year’s Resolution on January 1 to lose weight this year? If you are like most people, losing weight is at the top of the list of changes. According to a study published in the University of Scranton’s Journal of Clinical Psychology, losing weight is the number one resolution of the year and fitting in fitness is in the top ten.  

Not really a surprise, is it? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a third of all Americans over 20 are overweight and a staggering 35% of Americans adults are actually obese. And the list of diseases associated with obesity – among them diabetes, stroke, certain types of cancer, and heart disease – is both costly and deadly. 

There are always new diets, new exercise fads, new theories on how to lose weight, but the truth of the matter is something you learned in elementary school: Fewer calories and more exercise equals weight loss.     

Now you’re thinking, “I just don’t have time to exercise.”

According to Dr. Mehmet Oz, cardiothoracic surgeon and well-known health guru, a sedentary lifestyle is a key factor in many health problems. As viewers of his television show will tell you, he has a group of “Wellness Warriors” who promote various points of a healthy lifestyle.

One of these Warriors, Taisha Hayes, fought her own obesity to become a personal trainer and the founder of THayesFitness.com. She advises making an appointment to exercise, even if the appointment is with only with you. A vague “I’ll exercise some time tomorrow” is almost certainly likely to fail, but “I will walk for 30 minutes starting at noon tomorrow” is an actual commitment. And think of it this way – you would never be so rude as to cancel an appointment with another person at the last minute. Don’t you deserve the same respect?

If you’re already reducing calories but not getting the results you want, find a way to fit in fitness, and watch the pounds melt away!

Jason Laitsch is an experienced and caring personal trainer with nearly 15 years of helping clients meet their fitness goals. Schedule a consultation at www.jasonpersonaltrainer.com to discover how Jason can help you lose weight, get in shape, and fit in fitness for the New Year.

Fit the Old-Fashioned Way

Admit it. You’ve thought about it. Maybe you even fell for it. So you can say it out loud. Did you buy the pills that were going to help you lose weight without dieting? Did you order them as you sat on the couch, eating corn chips and watching late night infomercials? Did Suzanne Somers really convince you that the ThighMaster would make you have the same figure as she did?

Don’t feel bad; most of us have tried one or two of these “miracles.” And we have all, at least deep down in our hearts, known better.

According to Lindsey Unterberger in Glamour magazine, women in the 1940s were discouraged from exercising for fear that such stress could damage the uterus. By the 1950s, however, Jack LaLanne had begun his 32-year run on television as a nutritional, fitness, and motivational expert geared toward women. Long before Dr. Oz, he explained the benefits of good diets to women in layman’s terms. Before Richard Simmons, he led women in exercise programs that were more ballet that frenzied jumping. Before Dr. Phil, he encouraged and gently chided women of all ages to make their bodies stronger and “more lovely.”

Yes, LaLanne did promote supplements, but nothing he endorsed contained nonorganic materials. His famous rule—“If man made it, don’t eat it”—was offered almost daily on his television show. And he did invent some exercise equipment. However, it is not gathering dust in your closet or serving as a coat rack in your family room. If you want to see the machines he invented, you will find them at your gym. Many of the pulley-based machines used in gyms today were based on his designs.

So if you really want a fit body, you probably need to do what Jack did. Eat properly. Exercise daily. Copy the man that at 54 beat Arnold Schwarzenegger, then 21, in a strength contest.

And maybe try the other thing LaLanne promoted too. Look in the mirror every day and remind yourself that you are a lovely person, no matter how you look!

Have you tried fitness fads? Let me know about your fitness habits and what works best for you.