Daily victory is crucial to New Year’s resolution success. Each day that passes without movement towards the goal diminishes the emotional commitment and increases the odds of failure. That’s how the weight loss bubble bursts for so many people.

To help West Chester residents stay on track, avoid the bursting resolution bubble or patch it up and re-inflate (it’s never too late), West Chester Fitness Professional, Dennis Carroll, shares his Five Steps To Health and Fitness Success in 2009:

1. Define (or re-define) your weight loss and fitness goals and why they are important to you. As philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche says, “He who has a strong enough why can bear almost any how.” Is your weight loss goal motivated by a fear of disease, a desire for more confidence and self-esteem, to be a good role model for your children, to be more attractive and desirable to your spouse? Isolate the core emotional reasons why, list them out, tape to your bathroom mirror and refrigerator and read them each day.
2. Find your starting point. Take ‘baseline’ measurements of your weight, blood pressure, body fat percentage, body mass index, resting heart rate and circumference of your waist, hips, arms and thighs. Have someone you trust take a picture of you in your bathing suit or revealing exercise clothing. Don’t be shy. This picture, possibly more so than even your weight on the scale, will motivate you to stay on track. All of the other measurements can be performed by a competent fitness professional, your doctor or even your spouse or friend with the right tools. Anything that is measured and watched consistently improves. In order to gauge progress, measurements should be documented each week. Keep in mind that as you begin to exercise, body weight rarely changes at the rate we hope, but other measurements will. Use them as motivation.
3. Design a comprehensive program. This is where a certified fitness professional is irreplaceable. Books, magazine articles, and other generic guidance will not suffice. A personalized program addressing the specific needs of the individual is highly recommended, as everyone is different. Most certified personal trainers offer program design independent of their training services. Although there is no substitute for the consistent guidance and accountability a good personal trainer can provide, an inexpensive starting point is to have the trainer create a comprehensive program including both exercise protocols and nutritional recommendations.
4. Get your daily victory. It may be as simple as replacing the fast food breakfast with oatmeal and banana, or walking up the stairs rather than taking the elevator. All that is important, is consistent daily progression towards the goal. Do not allow even one day to pass without a victory and soon the willpower and discipline to succeed becomes second nature. TIP: use a daily journal to record everything eaten, all exercise performed and the positive feelings associated with those victories.
5. Regularly re-assess and reward. Measure your progress each Saturday. If you were disciplined throughout the week you will notice incremental changes and you can (and should) reward yourself on Sunday by enjoying a favorite treat (like pizza or chocolate – but no gorging, please) even if it’s not supportive nutrition. Do be certain to get your daily exercise victory to sustain momentum – even if it’s just performing five minutes of basic calisthenics or walking. Knowing that you have one reward day per week gives you something to look forward to, eliminates feelings of ‘mourning’ over perceived loss, and keeps the resolution bubble from bursting.

For additional weight loss, health and fitness guidance, all West Chester residents are invited to attend the February 4th special event, “How To Make 2009 Your Healthiest and Best Year Ever!” This event is sponsored by five of West Chester’s leading health, fitness and personal care experts, including Dennis Carroll, and is designed to share their specific knowledge and proven health-enhancing action plans with West Chester residents, while raising money for The West Chester Area Senior Center. A $10 tax-deductible donation to The Senior Center is the only cost to attend. Information on this event is available at www.westchesterchallenge2009.com.

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West Chester – There is a simple tool, rarely ever mentioned, that may be the ultimate weight loss secret: a daily journal. “Recording what you eat, when you eat it, how much exercise you do, when you do it, and most importantly, how it makes you feel, can really help people stay on track and achieve their weight loss and fitness goals,” says personal training business owner, Dennis Carroll of Premier Personal Training, Inc.

 

“Anything that is measured and watched consistently improves,” Carroll explains.  “I insist each of my clients record not just what they put in their mouths and the type and quantity of exercise they perform, but also how they feel.  Inevitably, the feelings recorded are positive, as it’s virtually impossible to eat right and exercise and not feel good about yourself.  The client is instructed to review their journal each morning, focusing on the positive feelings they experienced the day before. Nothing reinforces life-changing behavior more than recollecting the strong emotions associated with taking positive action towards a goal,” says Carroll.

 

Self-sabotage occurs when negative feelings creep in.  And negative feelings can only take hold when they are permitted to do so.  Fueling the mind with positive, expectant, hopeful thoughts is supremely motivating.  Each day the process becomes easier as the momentum builds. After about 21 days, it becomes automatic. 

 

Just as a savvy businessperson tracks and measures advertising in order to determine what is working and what is not, enabling him or her to make consistently better choices, so should an individual seeking body transformation results.  “The ultimate ‘secret,’ if you will, to getting transformative results is as much about managing your emotions as it is about exercise and nutritional,” Carroll reveals.  “How we program our brains, what we allow ourselves to

emotionally experience, plays a huge role in our success or failure.”

 

For additional weight loss, health and fitness guidance, all West Chester residents are invited to attend the February 4 special event, “How To Make 2009 Your Healthiest and Best Year Ever!”  This event is sponsored by five of West Chester’s leading health, fitness and personal care experts, including Carroll, and is designed to share their specific knowledge and proven health-enhancing action plans with West Chester residents, while raising money for The West Chester Area Senior Center.  A $10 tax-deductible donation to The Senior Center is the only cost to attend.  Information on this event is available at www.westchesterchallenge2009.com.

 

                                                                                                                                                                      

 

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