Repent your failed resolutions!

Why don't New Year's Resolutions work? My theory is that they are too vague and generally don't include a realistic plan for achieving the resolution. For example, the most common resolution; "I am going to lose weight." Great goal, but how do you get there? One day don't eat anything except a granola bar, and the next day when starving and having a glycemic episode eat the whole house. Yup. Done that one. The other thing is that there have to be life-long changes (not just for the upcoming year...or more likely, the 2 weeks before the end of the year), changes that one can live with.

So, I have been wanting to get rid of some fat and get big muscles (that is the direct quote from me to my trainer when I first started working out). I would love to have be built like trainer-extraordinaire Dorine, but I think that her body is probably a full time job (see above fo-to). Anyway, I started working toward that goal last winter when my friend Brenda was like, "Dude, wanna lose weight?...K, I have this new product..." oh wait, no, she said "Lets go to the gym right now and join" Probably not the exact quote, but she didn't say, "let's join the gym some time", she said, "meet me now, bring your check book", and I did it. Firm, solid goal and execution. Thanks B.

And I have been good about getting to the gym, with the exceptions of being sick or having owies. I have managed to build some muscle, but the blubber ratio has stayed the same. And here is the deal; in order to burn fat you need to change your diet AND do more cardio. I find cardio boring, in part because I don't see immediate results, so I don't do it. On the diet front, I have made some minor changes, but there are bigger changes that I need to make, and I knew I wasn't ready to make long term changes, and I was aware of the consequences and willing to live with my decision. Just like in getting sober, I had to have a willingness to have a willingness to make changes. I now have a willingness to make changes, and I am slowly making some changes. I have also started to do more cardio, which means less pumping iron (and less muscle/strength gain), but I want to get those damn Wranglers on again. Once I get my next installment of student loans I will get an exercise bike so that when I am wasting 45 minutes (Thank you God for TIVO) watching Ghost Hunters or LA Ink, or whatever trash it is at the moment, I can actually accomplish something and won't be able to whine about how boring cardio is.

and so ends the reading.