Anyone who knows me will tell you that I spend a LOT of time at the gym. By far, January is the month I dread the most at the gym.
Every January, hordes of well-meaning resolutioners descend on my gym, with their brand-new work out clothes and enthusiasm for fat-burning.
If it were not for the fact that the resolutioner numbers inevitably drop off by the third week of January, and most of them will quit coming altogether by the second week of February, I would applaud them. Mostly, they just end up being supreme annoyances that take up gym space and make a lot of unnecessary noise for the first 4-6 weeks of the new year.
Now, I'm not writing this post so that I can rail on people who consistently ditch their resolutions (I stopped making resolutions years ago, so I'm not one to preach). I'm actually looking to give out some advice that I hope at least one or two of the resolutioners out there will find helpful.
I was inspired to write this post by two young women I noticed coming to the gym about a week ago. They are both large women; their respective gym partners are not. Each time these women work out, I can see their determination to succeed. And, I find myself really wanting them to succeed with their respective decisions to get healthy.
I was thinking the other day about what I might tell them if I were asked to give them and resolutioners like them some advice. Here it is: if you put yourself on a diet and exercise plan for the new year, the best favor you can do for yourself is to get off of the diet right now.
Let me elaborate...
I don't want to stereotype, but many people put themselves on a diet the minute they decide they want to "get healthy".
I can say from personal experience that diets usually don't work. There's always that one person in the crowd for whom a diet has worked, but I have been on them before, family and friends have been on them/are on them, and not once has a diet worked for me or anyone else I know, at least not permanently.
There are two reasons why: you don't like diets (be honest), and neither does your body.
The average person who decides to go on a "healthy diet" has one thing in mind: calorie reduction. Plus, they think they need to start eating a bunch of things that are bland, fiber-filled, but "good for you". With that mindset, anyone is set up for eventual failure.
"Getting healthy" doesn't require deprivation. In fact, deprivation can actually be detrimental to your decision to get healthier.
Here comes a short lecture:
Calorie reduction is too often done to an extreme degree, with people thinking that this will help them lose weight faster. Women are especially guilty of this. Doing this may help you lose some water weight quickly, but you may also not lose weight at all, or if you do, it could be muscle weight. Some of that muscle can be heart muscle, and you definitely don't want to lose that.
Consider, though, the fact that the human body needs an average of 1200 calories, just to keep your heart beating and your lungs pulling in oxygen. Some sources recommend you limit yourself to between 1000 and 1200 calories to lose weight. That's insane, in my opinion. If this describes the plan you've put yourself on, please go eat something immediately, because whether you let yourself realize it or not, you're starving.
And, here's my alternate suggestion:
Your body doesn't care what the scale or the Levi's tag says, so rather than trying to fight the system, instead find out two numbers: what you are eating in the way of calories now, and how many calories you need to eat to get down to the weight goal you want to achieve. You can do this by visiting a nutritionist, or by going to a site like Livestrong (www.livestrong.com).
Once you know these numbers, you can start by reducing your caloric intake slowly (maybe by as little as 100 calories a day for a week or two, and then another 100 calories a day for a week or two, and so on), until you are eating roughly 500 calories less per day than you were eating before your resolution. Why 500 calories less per day? Because it takes burning 3500 calories to burn one pound of fat. So, if you want to start to lose one pound per week (which is a perfectly healthy weight loss), this is what you need to do.
You will have to make gradual adjustments to what your calorie goal is, as you lose weight, until you are eating roughly what you need to sustain your achieved weight goal. For this reason, I still recommend that you visit a registered dietitian or nutritionist, before tackling any major dietary changes. They're there to help, not judge you.
And, of course, it is also recommended that you talk to your doctor before beginning any new exercise program so that you can catch any potential health problems before they derail you.
When you get yourself on a healthy dietary plan that includes foods you like and a caloric intake that your body also likes, you can hit the gym with enthusiasm, without feeling later like the gym hit you back. That will make your workouts more productive, and that will help fuel the weight loss you want to achieve this new year.
Best of luck to every resolutioner trying to make changes to their weight and fitness this year!
--Penn
Wait, there's one more thing - I will be starting a new section in the sidebar called "Penn's Health and Fitness Tips". I'll post new dietary and work out recommendations from time to time, so check back often.
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