{"id":6572,"date":"2017-01-18T10:25:13","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T16:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/?p=6572"},"modified":"2017-01-18T10:25:13","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T16:25:13","slug":"10-years-and-5-top-tips-for-healthy-new-years-resolutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/18\/10-years-and-5-top-tips-for-healthy-new-years-resolutions\/","title":{"rendered":"10 years and 5 top tips for healthy new years resolutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten years is a really long time.\u00a0 I keep saying “it’s about a third of my life” because I still THINK I’m about 30, but I’m getting closer to it being a fourth.\u00a0 Still a long time, regardless.<\/p>\n

\"2007-1\"<\/p>\n

I don’t enjoy dredging this picture up every January but it proves a point.<\/em><\/p>\n

Anyhoo, about ten years ago, I barely fit into size 24 jeans.\u00a0 Walking around my apartment complex or across my tiny work campus was a WORKOUT.\u00a0 I drove the mile to work because “I would get sweaty” or “there’s a hill”.\u00a0 A marathon was something you did watching a lot of a TV show.\u00a0 A triathlon was eating pizza, drinking whiskey, and working or playing games at the same time.<\/p>\n

While I was proud of my work accomplishments, I had given up on the rest of my life.\u00a0 I figured that I wasn’t young anymore, so I had missed my opportunity to do something fun for fitness like I did as a kid.\u00a0 Hello, I was in my MID TWENTIES.\u00a0 Who thinks that?\u00a0 I thought if I wanted to lose weight I needed to do the elliptical (ho hum) and lift weights (bleh) and eat low carb (HATE).\u00a0\u00a0 I would stick to this stuff for a little bit, then I’d get bored and have no overlying goal besides wanting to hate myself a little less, and get frustrated and quit.<\/p>\n

However, a decade ago my New Years resolution was to lose weight, and it actually stuck!\u00a0 I’m down a small human from where I was ten years ago and I’m fit, active, and competitive (sometimes) in triathlons.\u00a0 However, there are days, weeks, and months where I’ve felt like an utter failure at it.\u00a0 I’ve gained weight back.\u00a0 I’ve let myself get so far off the strength training wagon I’ve become weak, imbalanced, and injured.\u00a0 To be a little nerdy and quote Alfred from Batman, “Why do we fall?\u00a0 So we can learn to pick ourselves up.”\u00a0 I’ve learned that the key is lifting yourself up over and over and over.<\/p>\n

Change is uncomfortable, and you’ll occasionally revert back to comfort and then feel frustrated about it.\u00a0 You’ll have a bad day at work and scarf down a burger and a beer and feel a bunch of guilt about how weak you are.\u00a0 You’ll get sick or busy and get out of the workout habit and berate yourself for not sticking to it.\u00a0 The scale will, for NO GOOD REASON, go up one week and you’ll want to cry and say FUCK IT, my best isn’t good enough, I guess I deserve to be fat now.\u00a0 I have done ALL THIS AND MORE and yet, still, here I am.<\/p>\n

Odds are, you have a health or fitness related goal for 2017.\u00a0 Since it’s coming up to that pivotal time<\/a> where you’re either going to quit when the going gets tough or persevere, here’s my 5 top tips for actually succeeding with a health\/fitness related New Years resolution.<\/p>\n

\"jan9-2\"<\/p>\n

Instead of being too busy to work out because you have all the errands, don’t drive there – get a cheapo commuter bike and some storage (my bike was 200$, my storage cost less than 100$, bike adventures instead of sitting in traffic – priceless).<\/em><\/p>\n

1. Work the goals around your life, not your life around the goals.\u00a0<\/strong> Are you not a morning person?\u00a0 I’m not either.\u00a0 Setting a goal to wake up at 5am to work out every day is PROBABLY not the best first step.\u00a0 Try finding 30 minutes a few times a week that makes sense for you.\u00a0 Use your lunch break.\u00a0 Take 30 minutes out of your social media or TV time.\u00a0 Stop at the gym on the way home from work.\u00a0 If you have trouble getting out of the house, find workouts you can do inside (treadmill, trainer, videos, active video games).\u00a0 Maybe it IS the mornings, but if it’s not, don’t force it.\u00a0 Find the time you are MOST likely to work out and do that.<\/p>\n

2. Have lofty goals but take realistic steps.\u00a0<\/strong> Want to lose 100 lbs?\u00a0 Awesome.\u00a0 Set that really scary number aside and concentrate on losing 5 lbs this month.\u00a0 Or better yet, use process goals, like tracking your food and steps and eating 500 calories less than you burn daily as measured by fitbit.\u00a0 You can’t lose weight just by wanting it really hard, you have to go through a process to do it.\u00a0 I know – I tried for MANY YEARS to just want to lose weight as if it was magic.\u00a0 It may be a little mystifying, but I guarantee you, the more you quantify your actions, the more success you’ll have.<\/p>\n

3. Have an ultimate (quantifiable) goal.\u00a0<\/strong> Wanting to be skinny or get fitter is admirable, but hard to quantify.\u00a0 What’s your motivation for wanting it?\u00a0 Do you want to fit into a pair of jeans?\u00a0 Do you want to be able to play soccer with your kids?\u00a0 Do you want to run your first 5k?\u00a0 Once you identify this, figure out those incremental steps to get there and make a plan and set a date.\u00a0 As they say, a goal without a deadline is just a dream.\u00a0 For the 5k example, you may say you’re going to follow the Couch25k program (giving yourself a few extra weeks just in case) and sign yourself up for a 5k in 3 months.\u00a0 This means you can’t just say “someday”… someday is in 12 weeks – get to it!<\/p>\n

4. Be gentle with yourself if you falter.\u00a0 <\/strong>Progress is not linear.\u00a0 We are human.\u00a0 The aforementioned bad day burger and beer, missing workouts, and scale being a fuckwit WILL happen.\u00a0 Let me shout this one.\u00a0 IT IS NOT INDICATIVE OF YOU BEING A WORTHLESS HUMAN BEING.\u00a0 However, why do we fall (because we all fall)?\u00a0 To learn how to pick ourselves up again.\u00a0 After the burger and beer day, wake up in the morning and eat a healthy breakfast and go sweat a little.\u00a0 After missing a week of working out, get back to it.\u00a0 If the scale is not cooperating, keep trying, because the other option is giving up and I guarantee you, this is not a good alternative.\u00a0 Sometimes we vacation off the wagon, and that’s fine, but we should live ON it.<\/p>\n

5. Celebrate when you succeed.<\/strong>\u00a0 Did you lose 15 lbs and your jeans are loose?\u00a0 Fuck yeah!\u00a0 Go buy yourself a new pair that fits and looks good.\u00a0 Even if you’re not at your goal weight.\u00a0 Even if you have to go to the thrift store to do it.\u00a0 Just because you are not at your vision of perfect yet doesn’t mean you shouldn’t celebrate the little steps along the way.\u00a0 Progress should be should be met with a hearty fist bump, not a sigh about how far you have left to go.<\/p>\n

In ten years, some things have not changed.<\/p>\n

\"sept19-1\"<\/p>\n

Yep, this is still a thing…<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes I’ll eat like an ass just like before.\u00a0 I love me some french fries.\u00a0 I still have pizza and whiskey nights in my life.<\/p>\n

I still hate the elliptical.\u00a0 And I constantly fall off and restart on the weights bandwagon.<\/p>\n

Right now I’m cranky about barely fitting into some of my jeans.<\/p>\n

However, when I eat like an ass, 99% of the time it’s because I’ve just finished a super long workout and I can justify the calories.\u00a0 I may hate the elliptical, but I love to swim, bike, and run.\u00a0 And the jeans I’m cranky about?\u00a0 They’re half the size (or less) than in 2007.<\/p>\n

So, there are some things that HAVE changed.\u00a0 And while 2007 me and 2017 me are very different people, it was through very gradual evolution every step of the way.\u00a0 2007 me would have balked at my current workout schedule and many other things that are just part of my normal life now.\u00a0 But 2007 me DID find it acceptable to do 20-30 mins cardio and 15 minutes of light weights three times a week, and track my calories.\u00a0 And then it evolved from there.<\/p>\n

If 2007 me could do it, 2017 you TOTALLY can.<\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ten years is a really long time.\u00a0 I keep saying “it’s about a third of my life” because I still THINK I’m about 30, but I’m getting closer to it being a fourth.\u00a0 Still a long time, regardless. I don’t enjoy dredging this picture up every January but it proves a point. Anyhoo, about ten […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[20,81,60,8],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paUhDu-1I0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6572"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6572"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6625,"href":"https:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6572\/revisions\/6625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}