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In Stephen M. R. Covey's book, The Speed of Trust, he says research shows that even though half of Americans make New Year's resolutions, only 8 percent actually see them through to the end.  The other 92 percent quit on themselves!  Ninety-two percent; that's insane!  If you take a family of five, along with another family of five, and another family of five, and another family of five, and for kicks, one more family of five, and you line them up, 23 out of the 25 five family members standing in that line will give up on their New Year's resolutions.  Twenty-three of those twenty-five will be labeled "QUITTERS".  How does that make you feel?  I know how it makes me feel; it makes me feel saddened that many people in this country don't have the fortitude to finish something they started.  Where's the determination people!

Even though not every New Year's resolution is a fitness resolutions, I'm willing to bet that a lot of them are, so if you're about ready to set a fitness New Year's resolution, what I want to do for you is help prepare you for achieving it by being brutally honest with you.  Sure, achieving a fitness goal is extremely rewarding and can work wonders on your body, everybody knows that, so I don't want to talk about the positive side to exercise and better eating habits.  No, I want to talk about the negative side to it.  You know, compare red checkers to black checkers, the good with the bad because if you're not mentally prepared for the challenges you'll face after starting your journey toward achieving your New Year's resolution, there's no point to starting.  Some people would argue with me and say, "Yeah Dan, but something is better than nothing."  I don't agree with that.  If you go through life never finishing what you start, how do you think that affects your mind?  If you're always starting an exercise program, but never sticking with it long enough to see results, what kind of effect is that going to have on your self-esteem?  I think if you're constantly yo-yoing with your weight, or starting and stopping your workout plans, you're training your mind not to believe you're a reliable person.  Your mind will expect you to fail again because you've failed every other time you've set a fitness goal.  

Mind: "If you can't achieve your fitness goals, do you really expect to achieve at other things in life?"

Always giving up on yourself takes it's toll and eventually will catch up with you; if your friend was consistently late for the times you would meet up, would you continue to show up on time?  Nope.  You would probably figure that your friend was unreliable for being on time, so you would start to show up a few minutes late, yourself, so you wouldn't be waiting around anymore.

Alright, so let's make sure 2009 is the year you stick it out to the end with reaching your fitness goals.  Before you run off and start forming a resolution, let's talk about the challenges you'll face.  If we confront these now, and prepare for when they do come, you'll be ready to face them and prevail. 

Number one, consistently exercising and eating right, day in and day out, is an absolute MUST if you want to give yourself a shot at reaching your goals.  And get this, it's going to be one of the hardest and most difficult things you'll ever have to do.  Picture the day where you are having the hardest time dragging yourself out of bed, or you had a unbelievably draining day at work, or you have so many errands to do today and the kids are driving you crazy.  Do you feel like working out today?  No, but guess what, you have to.  You're the one that decided you want to lose some weight for that wedding or vacation this summer, and if you give up on yourself today, what's to say you won't give up tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.  This brings me to my next point.  Unless you're exercising at least 3 days per week (the most successful exercise at least 5 days a week) and eating right at least 5 days per week, don't waste your time.  You're going to make yourself so frustrated with not getting results, that you're going to drive yourself crazy.

Number two, it's really cold right now, and who wants to exercise outside in cold weather?  I know it's not my favorite thing to do, but if you love to run, walk, bike, etc., exercising outside may become an issue when it's really cold ... or hot.

Number three, guess what, exercise is painful.  Not to the point of a sharp pain, but I'm sure you'll experience times where you feel your heart is going to pop out of your chest, your muscles feel like they're on fire, or maybe you'll have a day where you will feel sick to your stomach or dizzy.  Nobody likes feeling like that, but the reality is, sometimes when you're really pushing yourself, you may feel that way, so be prepared.  Also, be prepared to sweat.  If you casually workout, I'm going to be honest, you're wasting your time.  Intensity is key, and if you aren't going to work out intensely, you're going to become very frustrated.  As I said above, be prepared for those days when you finish your workout and feel awful.  If you're not willing to subject your body to this type of pain, chances are you will not achieve the results you want.  I'm just warning you.  Half-hearted attempts to improve your fitness level don't work ... no matter what your goal is. 

Number four, be prepared to always feel hungry when you start your program (this is for weight loss people).  Chances are you're probably eating too many calories right now and will need to cut back.  Your body is used to the calorie level it's at right now, so when it starts getting less each day, you're going to have to fight the urge to grab at snacks.  If you do, you can kiss your resolution goodbye.  You have to be able to practice self-control; if you can't, you're setting yourself up for failure.

Number five, guess what.  You're clothes will probably stink.  Have you ever smelled a pile of sweating clothes?  It's not a pretty picture, so be prepared for lots of showers and lots of sweaty, stinky laundry.

Number six, you may actually gain some weight in the first month or so of your program.  (Click this link, scroll down, and read the article on this page about why this may happen.)  This is where so many people quit.  They've been working out really hard for a month, they step on the scale, and to their surprise, they see they've actually gained weight!  What do they do, they give up.  Don't!  Stick with it because you will prevail if you're patient enough ... most people aren't, though.  Immediate result ... that's what so many expect today, but fitness results are far from immediate.

Number seven, eating healthier costs more.  Are you prepared to ditch the boxed meals for fresh, more expensive meals?  Less processed foods = more results.  If you stick with your old eating habits, all you're going to do is grow older, yourself, without making any progress toward your goal.

Number eight, there's a great chances that you'll have to say no to friends and family.  You're going to have to eat differently.  No more junk food and alcohol like your family and friends may eat and drink.  No more eating a massive amount of calories when you got out to eat.  You have to stop eating like those around you and start eating better.  You have to say no to the dessert your relative made or the large slice of birthday cake and ice cream.  You have to say no to that extra helping or that last hotdog.  Be prepared to be different and to say no.  Otherwise, be prepared to fail.

Finally, be prepared to sacrifice time and energy for results.  Be prepared to spend less time at home watching TV, less time doing the things you love to do, less time with friends and family; if you're not willing to sacrifice this to get to your goal, then you're not going to get there.  A space ship burns up the most fuel during the launch; once it's in space, it's smooth sailing.  Same with fitness, it's going to take a lot of time and energy to get to your goal (getting out of the earth's atmosphere and into space), but once you reach your goal, it takes a lot less time and energy to maintain your result. 

Are you ready?  Do you really want to start an exercise program?  I hope that you do, but I also hope that if you do, you know what you're getting yourself into, and you're willing to stick it out no matter how tough it gets.

Dan Falkenberg, BA, ACE-CPT, NASM-PES

Dan Falkenberg is the cofounder of Your Live Trainers.  He can be reached at DanFalkenberg.com.

If you want some extra help heading into the New Year, I just released my first-ever downloadable training program called the Fat Dissolver Program; it features over 50 of the exercises I use with my own clients.  You can download them to your computer, watch them on your iPod/iPhone, or turn them into two DVDs of your own.  Make sure you check them out today! 

Tags: goal setting, weight loss