New Year's Resolutions Stink

I want to lose weight. I want to be healthy. I want to look good in my swimsuit this summer. I want....oh, look! Snickers are on sale!

Have you ever wondered why we even bother with resolutions anymore? I mean, there are a lot of things I *want* (Snickers not always being at the bottom of that list), but a lot fewer things that I am actually willing to *work* toward getting. (Snickers being an exception to this rule as well. And, yes, I do realize that this is a health blog...I'm getting to that point soon.)  The pros tell us that most resolutions are abandoned by January 9. For those of you who are better than that, what do you get for actually staying true to your resolutions, anyway? The ability to check off tasks from a made-up list and look back at the end of the year to pretend that you did something that mattered, if only to you? It's kind of a lame payoff.


Don't get me wrong. Even with the title "New Year's Resolutions Stink," I really don't hate goals or people who set the bar high for themselves and make the rest of us look like losers. To be truthful, my husband and I are some of the most neurotically goal-driven people I know. We actually passed up a trip to Hawaii because it didn't get us closer to our ultimate goal of seeing all seven continents before starting a family. Retrospectively, it was the single most idiotic decision we've ever made regarding vacations. And the hubs is a chronic overachiever. Case in point: As soon as he broke a 10-minute-mile in running, he decided to train for a triathlon. Normal people don't do that. So, when I say that resolutions stink, please hear me from an it-takes-one-to-know-one perspective.


I've found that it's nice to have those short term goals, but, in the end, it's what you do with the rest of your life that matters. If trying to beat your best record in a 5K helps you get out there and move on a daily basis, great! But if you achieve that goal in February and surf the couch for the rest of the year, I kind of don't get the point.  I help people lose weight through a twelve-week class I teach, and, while I am proud of all my girls who experience short-term success, what excites me most is seeing them long after class is dismissed, maintaining their weight because they have decided that some of the new habits they developed during those twelve weeks are worth hanging onto in their real lives, as well. Maybe they decided that walking a few minutes every day was almost as easy as watching TV; or that turkey burgers really do leave you feeling better than mystery meat from the fast-food restaurant; or that skipping a starch during dinner every now and again isn't a cardinal sin. It's the little decisions they make on a daily basis that add up for lasting results and leave them better off in the long run, and that's what counts.


So that's what this blog is here for: to share sustainable swaps you can make to keep you and your family healthier, to give you a little encouragement by example (not always guaranteed to be a positive one!), and to see if we can't start to change the health situation in our country without magic diet pills or weight loss competitions, but by learning to enjoy what it means to be healthy day in and day out.


And that's probably why I waited until mid-January to start writing this blog. I didn't wake up on January 1 and think to myself, "Hmm...what should I do this year? I know! I will write a blog!" It's been a long time coming. Now that I've finally got around to it, I'm kind of here to stay. Because I want this to be a much bigger part of my life than any temporary resolution ever could. Remember, I said they stink.