Getting Past Arrested Development: How I Stuck to My Fitness Resolution *And You Can TOO!* Part 1

It’s another new year!  Happy 2014! And with the changing of the year, comes the inevitable tidal wave of resolutions. This is the time of year for professing vows of positive change! “I will quit smoking!” “I will save money!” And the always popular “I will lose weight!” The gyms are banking on it.

Making resolutions is a great idea. I am a strong advocate of constant self-improvement. We are none of us close to perfect and it is within our power to do things to make our lives healthier, wealthier, smarter…better! So making a list of resolutions is fabulous  -  in concept.

Time for some real talk. How likely are we to be successful at achieving these goals? For years I kept a diary. Several years in a row I would write a list of my New Year’s Resolutions - things I was motivated to change in my life ranging from “Drink More Water” to “Learn Gaelic”. When I look back through the lists I can count on one hand how many I completed successfully. I did learn to drink more water but it was on my list 2 years in a row.

I looked up New Year’s Resolutions on Wikipedia and I quote:

“A 2007 study by Richard Wiseman University of Bristol involving 3,000 people showed that 88% of those who set New Year resolutions fail,^[7] despite the fact that 52% of the study's participants were confident of success at the beginning.”

Damn that’s depressing.

But I didn’t write this article to make you want to rip up your list and go back to eating Oreos for breakfast. Achieving a resolution, especially a fitness one, is not just a matter of wishing, writing it down and feeling inspired. It’s about reaching a point where you are ready and determined to change your lifestyle. For years my goals were facing Arrested Development. And in the spirit of that genius, gut-busting, glorious show let me tell you how I finally got there.

Determination VS Motivation

One of the genius touches in Arrested Development is the ring of truth in each gleefully satirical, ridiculous character. Most of us can identify with having someone in their life passing off unsubtle criticism as caring advice.

“I don’t criticize you! And if you’re worried about criticism, sometimes a diet is the best defense.”

Lucille is always quick to remind Lindsay, what others think of you and your own body image can provide the motivation to prompt you to want to change. But I’ve found that this type of motivation alone is not enough to get my bum in the gym every morning, or launch lasting improvements in my lifestyle. I’ve often felt down and out on myself because of how I think others see me, or how I see myself. Having a tough time buttoning up those once perfect-fitting jeans can create a cocktail of self-loathing and angry-motivation. But frustration-motivation, or frustrivation, (you’re welcome, world) rarely leads to fixing the problem. Negative attitudes don’t create results. Even being “inspired” by seeing others reach their goals and positive motivation will only take you so far. Motivation can be a stepping stone for getting on the right path, but it needs a heavy dose of determination to get you off the ground.

I tried for ages to get myself into a gym routine and on a cleaner diet, and although I had a strong dose of the frustrivation, I just couldn’t stick to my guns. I would easily get discouraged and irrationally justify going back to my old habits. My problem was that although I had some motivation, I just didn’t have the determination.

Motivation is – the reason to act in a certain way; inducement, cause, impetus

Determination is - the act of coming to a decision or of fixing or settling a purpose

I was in an almost constant state of motivation. Not liking the way I looked and felt, seeing others be strong, healthy and successful - these were everyday experiences. It was enough to get me to turn away sweets some days and go to the gym on occasion. It was enough to make me choose “low fat” products in grocery stores but not to make everyday good decisions, and crucially – not enough to get results.

The real change waited until I found my determination.

How I Got There

To make a long story short, I had been living so long with this unhappiness about my weight that it was affecting my relationship, my social life, my sleep, my energy, and ultimately my health. Long had I had the motivation – now it was time to find the determination. It’s hard for me to help you get there. It’s an Aha moment where you reach a stage beyond frustrivation and the feeling is so strong you are able to make a definitive decision - and that decision lights a fire under your ass that will make you do crazy things like stop what you’re doing, put on some ill-fitting jogging pants and go immediately to the gym. And then keep doing that every day.

End Game

In order for any goal to be successfully met it needs to be measurable. This allows you to concoct a plan, follow through, reassess it and ultimately reach that goal. This is what I learned in Marketing 101. But it holds true. Your resolution might be “I will lose weight” or “I will gain muscle” or “I will run faster” but your goal needs to be “I will lose 10lbs by my sister’s wedding” or “I will gain 10lbs of muscle by the time I leave for Muscle Beach” or “I will be able to run from here to my supersecret bunker in less than 30 seconds before the coming of the Zombie Apocalypse”

So while my desire was to say goodbye to those love-handles, nothing much was happening for me until my end game goal looked more like “lose X lbs by X date”. By making it measurable I was making it easier to track my progress which was super duper good for keeping me on track. Alternatively, it let me know when I needed to tweak my routine when I was stalled.

The Plan

Alright, so I finally had a measurable goal. Surprisingly, (or not, depending on how cynical you are in day to day life) this is where a lot of resolutions come to die. The desire is there, the motivation and the goal, but the plan remains vague, unfulfilled or non-existent.

Again, this is where I had failed many times. A vague plan is hard to realize, so my “plan” to go to the gym “a few times/week” and “eat better” was doomed to fail from the start. A non-plan like this inevitably results in lackluster performance and leaves way to much wiggle-room to slack off. I found myself making gym check-ins once/week, or maybe twice/week or not at all. I was eating a healthy breakfast and lunch and eating pub food for dinner - some weeks doing a lot, others very little. You get the idea. I found – surprise! – just as my goal had to be specific, so did my plan, in order to see any results.

What DID work for me was to do my research, find out what was most practical for me in terms of what I could stick to, and what would get me to my goal. This included scheduled gym sessions and tracking my diet on *Sparkpeople.com. Determination plays a strong part in this.

Then I wrote it down. I kept it with me. It was practically carved in stone.

Now to put this plan in motion.

Stay tuned for part 2 

*Sparkpeople is a wonderful website that provides a meal tracking tool. You can input everything you eat in a day and it gives you a breakdown of how much fat, calories, fibre, protein…etc you are getting. You set goals and get lots of guidance and support along the way. Tracking my diet this way for a few weeks helped me get to know what I actually SHOULD be eating. Highly recommend.

Under: Blog

By phyatt with No comments