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Here we go again! It’s resolution time and for lots of people, that means weight loss. It’s well documented that many people start out with a ridiculous goal, don’t see an immediate change, then give up completely by the time February rolls around. Most gyms rely on this fact when offering new memberships. I’m sure you’ll start seeing ads for gym memberships in the coming weeks. What they won’t tell you is that you must pay for a long membership period upfront (usually at least a year or two) and there are no refunds. Most also charge a large start-up fee as well. Some gyms will let you pay monthly, and will allow you to cancel if you decide to stop going. These are few and far between, but they usually will still charge a large start-up fee as well. The gyms know you will stop coming after a month or so and want to get as much money out of you right away before you quit.

Why do people quit? I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that people set unattainable goals for themselves and get discouraged when they don’t see big results as quickly as they would like. I set an
ambitious goal for myself last year. I would lose 80 pounds. It was a little too ambitious. I didn’t quit going to a gym, because I was never a member of one in the first place. I was very determined when I started, and lost about 10 lbs. Then I leveled out and started getting bored, like most people. I put the weight back on and hit pause until about May. Then I really started working out. I started riding my bike to work and back a few times a week and really started to notice a difference. Then I changed my diet and stopped eating processed food almost altogether. The hardest part about that was just finding the time to cook for myself. I had gotten lazy, and frozen pizzas were easier than making a stir fry from scratch. But I like to cook, so it wasn’t any kind of torture or anything to start cooking for real again. Anyway, I’ve lost about 40 lbs. of the 80 I wanted to lose. I don’t feel a lot of disappointment because I know I’ve accomplished something significant, but I’ve always got that nagging thought in my mind that I failed at another resolution.

So, this year I will make my resolution attainable, but not exactly easy. I will lose that last 40 lbs. I’ve done it before, and I know I can do it again. I think that if people just set attainable goals for themselves, they would actually accomplish them, and possibly that end of February depression that a lot of people seem to get would be avoided. What do think? Do you have an attainable goal this year?

While I’m on the topic, qualitative goals are cheating! “I resolve to be a better person.” What kind of weak-ass crap is that?! How do you “be a better person”? Aren’t you already a complete person? How can you be better? You can’t resolve to evolve. (Heh, resolve to evolve. I like that ) I suppose the talented chimpanzees that you see on TV dressed in people clothes could resolve to be better people, but you? I don’t think so. Set yourself an attainable quantitative goal, and I think you will be much more likely to achieve it and will be happier about yourself once you do.