Yes, we have 3 weeks until New Year’s Eve and there’s still a lot of shopping, traveling and holiday parties to take care of between now and then. But it’s important to go ahead and think about our New Year’s Resolutions. Every month for the last year, I’ve offered a monthly goal check for you to assess your fitness progress over the previous month and when we think about our New Year’s Resolutions we think of the lofty goals that we may have.
For some it could be to stop smoking, for others it could be to lose weight and for still others it could be to engage in a regular fitness program and more. To often, however, those New Year’s resolutions focus on the ends and not the means of how you are going to get there. Remember, the ends do no justify the means. So if you want to lose weight, you might consider Beyonce’s Dreamgirls diet that requires eating very little and drinking lots of fluids.
You’ll lose weight, but you may not keep it off safely and you may experience some serious health risks because of it. So yes, you need to think about the means that will help you achieve your end. It’s also important to remember that it can be hard to let go of the way you thought you were going to achieve your goals. I know a woman who made it her New Year’s Resolution to trim away the unwanted pounds – she was ramping up her exercise program and beginning the Atkins diet plan. She dived in – fresh to the New Year and began working it hard – three weeks later she found out she was pregnant.
Yes, The Pregnancy Was Most Welcome
But it completely derailed her weight loss plans. The Atkins Diet is hardly healthy for a pregnant woman to engage in so she had to drop that idea almost immediately. Her doctor advised her that she could continue working out, but she needed to maintain a moderate pace and intensity level. During the first trimester she came down with a viral infection and that slowed her down – then she encountered a really nasty case of poison ivy.
By the fourth and fifth month of her pregnancy, she began having severe back pains and walking grew more and more difficult. The doctors told her it was normal to feel this way, but by the end of her sixth month, the pain was so intense that she could hardly sit still and the stress of the pain kept her from any workouts at all. She saw a physical therapist that identified the problem as a partially dislocated pelvis — the baby was pushing one leg out of alignment.
Over the next four weeks, she went back to the therapist repeatedly to have her pelvis realigned correctly. Just when it looked like things were going to get back to normal and she could start her walking regimen again – the doctor discovered that she was 1 cm dilated and bed rest was ordered. The woman was miserable – her entire resolution to get back into shape and lose weight was flying out the window, not only had she gained a lot of weight with the pregnancy, the constant need to rest and stay off her feet was adding even more pounds.
It was easy to just want to give up and what was the goal now that she was pregnant and obviously never going to reach that goal she’d initially set for herself. The problem is – the setbacks she saw were overwhelming and very soon she’d have a baby to care for and she could only hope that her health would cooperate. Her goal to lose weight seemed counterproductive when she’d gained 80 pounds, but it wasn’t just the weight loss and the getting back into shape she’d wanted – she’d wanted a change in her life. She’d wanted a recommitment to new values and to making her life more focused and the pregnancy – well it had certainly done that.
After the Baby Was Born
It took her a few months to remember that original goal and it took almost a year for her to learn to balance what she wanted against what she needed and what she was capable of doing all the while learning to be a new mom. Now if you are wondering – did she ever achieve that original resolution? She’s still working on it, but her perspective has changed and she doesn’t see setbacks as the end of the line anymore. Instead, she looks at the means to achieve the goals she wants for herself and stops measuring everything by whether she actually reaches the goal.
So think about your New Year’s Resolutions and think about the means to achieve your goals and then accept that you will encounter obstacles and setbacks – but they don’t mean an end to the road, they just mean you need to reassess how you are going to get there and oh, if you’re wondering who was this woman I was talking about?
That was me – over six years ago. What resolutions are you considering for the coming year?
Related Articles:
New School Year Fitness Resolutions
Fitness Goals: The Long and the Short of It
Your Body Image Versus Your Workout
Positive Affirmations for Fitness
Resolutions — Why? How? What? Where? When?