Don't Give Up On Your New Year's "Fitness Pledge" Just Yet! If you're like most people, you probably made one or more very ambitious New Year's fitness resolutions this year. And like most people, you are probably having a hard time keeping them and are about to give up. Not so fast! I'm going to help you salvage and succeed with your well intended plans and show you how to keep from failing in the future. For as long as people have been celebrating New Year's Eve, they have been making resolutions and failing to keep them. This is particularly true in the area of Health & Fitness (predominately in the area of weight lost). The question then becomes, if losing weight and getting in shape is of such primary concern to so many people, why do the overwhelming majority of them fail in this endeavor? The truth is there are three major pitfalls that most people fall into and by taking note of each one, hopefully you will avoid them not only this time around, but in the future as well. 1)Set realistic goals. Most people embark on their New Year's fitness program with considerable enthusiasm and this often causes them to bite off more than they can chew. If you set goals that are too ambitious like vowing to lose an extremely large amount of weight in a short period of time, you are doomed to fail. Unless you are extremely obese, you should plan on losing no more than two pounds a week. If you lose weight faster than this, you will lose lean mass as well as body fat which will result in a lower metabolic rate, making it more difficult for you to lose weight over the long haul. 2)Set short term goals rather than long term ones. Goals that require you to project too far into the future are just as problematic as those that seek to achieve too much in a short period of time. If a goal is set too far into the future, you are simply giving yourself more time and opportunity to fail since it is difficult for most people to maintain their enthusiasm and focus for extended periods. By setting reasonable, short term goals, you are greatly increasing your chances of realizing them. Once this has been accomplished, you will find yourself buoyed by this achievement. Remember, success is its own reward! You will now be more motivated than ever to continue to succeed. The best way to do this is to stick with the same proven formula. Set another set of reasonable, attainable short term goals, that picks up where your previous goal left off. By following this formula of breaking down what was once a grand, lengthy and intimidating goal into a series of smaller, modest, more readily achievable ones, you will have exponentially increased your chances of success. 3)Avoid setting simultaneous or conflicting goals. Like the two aforementioned pitfalls, trying to achieve multiple goals at the same time can increase your chances of failure since they each compete for your time, energy and focus unless they are multiple goals that emanate from the same effort. For example, setting the simultaneous goals of getting in better shape and losing weight is generally not a problem. Since both of these can be the product of the single activity of regular exercise, you don't need to put aside specific time for each goal. Vowing to quit smoking, changing your diet to a more healthy one AND engaging in regular exercise will probably prove to be too much for most people since this will require three specific efforts not one. Also, when you set multiple goals you tend to view them as one solitary goal with many parts. Failure to achieve any one of them can break your will to continue with the remaining ones. Giving up smoking for example, is extremely difficult for most people and many fail the first time they try. By tying this potential failure to your other goals, you risk failing at them as well. If you follow my advice and avoid the three major pitfalls I have identified above, you will have gone a very long way towards achieving the fitness goals you set for yourself on January 1st. This however, is only half the battle. Once you have resolved to set realistic, short term, non-conflicting goals, the next step is to ensure that your program itself is based on sound training principles and this is where the services of a knowledgeable Personal Trainer can make all the difference. Many people assume that they don't need help with Program Design and implementation and just as many of them are wrong. If your desire to lose weight and improve your overall level of physical fitness is important enough to warrant your time and effort, then it is worth consulting a professional even it is just to design your training program for you as opposed to training you on an ongoing basis. For a more in depth examination of this aspect of succeeding with your Health & Fitness Goals stay tuned to www.CityChickMag.com for my next article. Stay Healthy! Francis X Francis X is a highly sought after Self Defense Instructor and nationally certified Personal Trainer operating in the Greater New York Metropolitan Area. He has trained both professional and amateur athletes and is a consultant to such major corporations as British Petroleum. He can be reached by visiting him on the web at http://www.genesisdiversifiedservices.com CONTESTS | ABOUT US | LETTER FROM THE EDITOR | CONTACT US | CREDITS © 2007, Sun Goddess Productions All Rights Reserved