Get The Body You Adore in 2004

Created Especially for Paula Monahan
Editor, The N.C. Journal For Women

Now that the candy corn is a distant memory, the pumpkin pie has been devoured, and the Christmas cookies have all but disappeared, you may be feeling like you have become part of the obesity epidemic, and are ready for a health-related New Year's resolution!

Here are 8 ways to get the body of your dreams this year through finally keeping your New Year's resolutions.

1. Decide what's most important to you. What does your inner voice say to you? Are you hearing, "I can't believe how winded I get walking up those stairs," or "When did these hips begin to look like my grandmothers?!" Your conscience is quietly talking about what you need to pay attention to.

Listen to your spirit's voice and decipher what is bothering you. Then make a resolution pertaining to that. If you pattern your resolve to match your inner voice, you'll have a much greater chance of sticking with your resolution.

2. Spend 30 minutes thinking about how to get from Point A to Point B. Weight loss and physical fitness don't happen all by themselves. If you really want your dreams to come true this year, you are going to have to spend at least 30 minutes thinking about how you are going to accomplish your goal.

3. Determine how much time you can realistically allocate to your resolution. If you are like most other women, you are really busy with work, family and other obligations. Adding one more thing to your plate is going to be challenging, but your success in so many things to date proves that you know how to manage time. This process is no different.

4. Decide that your health appointment is as important as your hair appointment. Exercise always seems to be the first thing to go when time gets tight, but if you think about it, it is the very thing that will sustain you through tough times.

Commit to commit to your resolution. It's okay for you to have time for yourself to exercise. Don't feel guilty about it. If you do, you're going to stop just as soon as something seems to conflict with it.

5. Decide to make your journey one that you enjoy. If you have a treadmill and hate it and you are not a morning person, the worst thing you can do is to set yourself up for failure by resolving to spend 30 minutes first thing every morning walking on the treadmill. You may as well resolve to become Santa Claus next year for all the good that resolution will do you.

Instead, take on something you enjoy. If you are a people person, consider forming a walking group or joining a gym. If you like one-on-one interaction, consider working with a friend or personal trainer. If you love the outdoors, consider roller blading, jogging, skiing and/or biking outside. And if you are a homebody, consider using aerobic tapes and CDs. If you resolve to have fun, then your probability of success rises exponentially.

6. Make a plan. Once you are doubly committed to yourself and are armed with something that you enjoy, take out your calendar and write your plan onto it. In fact, consider making a "Health Resolution" calendar that you put on your refrigerator or desktop.

For example, if you resolve to walk around the block one morning a week, write "8am Walk" on the weekday that you are walking, and then set your alarm.

If you resolve to join a gym and do strength training 2 days a week, add "Call Gyms," "Join Best Fit Gym," and "Work Out" on the calendar. Be sure to add 8 "work out" appointments for the month and remember step number 4!

7. Be flexible while sticking to your plan. Take it from me, life gets in the way of plans. Kids get sick, projects get delayed, work runs over, and appointments get canceled. If you are going to be successful, you need to tell yourself right now that "this is a lifelong journey." When something comes up, take it in stride, pull out your calendar, and reschedule your personal health appointment.

As long as you're doing the best you can, you're doing the best you can, right? Go with the flow, just make sure that the flow keeps going.

8. Be patient. Lastly, I want to encourage you to be patient. Women are very often emotional about their fitness goals and therefore get overwhelmed and frustrated, which results in falling off the New Year wagon in short order.

Remember that it has taken some time to get where you are now and that it will take some time to get where you want to go. As long as you keep putting one foot in front of the other while doing mostly right things, you will reach your goal in time.