Make it and keep it

June Casagrande

“This year, it’s going to be different. No excuses. No slacking

off. This year, I’m going to get in shape.”

Sound familiar? If this once-powerful pledge is beginning to sound

like a tired refrain, it’s time to stop kidding yourself about

getting fit.

If it didn’t work last year or the year before or the year before

that, it’s time to do something different. That’s the only way to

make your 2003 New Year’s resolution the one that finally sticks.

Every new year, personal trainers see a fresh crop of resolute

health buffs, and every year, there follows the steady decline in

workout attendance that separates the ones who really mean business

from the ones who were just kidding themselves all along.

The key, pros say, is to be realistic from the start.

“Wanting too much too soon is probably one of the biggest reasons

people fail their New Year’s resolutions. That’s probably the second

biggest reason. The biggest one is just flaking out,” said Paul

Redman, a personal trainer who often works at Newport Fitness.

Redman, who looks at every new year as an opportunity for a fresh

start, said that goals must be reasonable and, even more important,

they should be very specific.

“You need a very specific plan,” Redman said. “That plan should

include several small goals that look toward a big goal. Obviously, I

believe that hiring a trainer can be a good goal. Then set some

positive rewards when you’ve achieved your goals: Send yourself to

spa, on a shopping spree -- something you only get if you hit your

goal.”

Set out not to lose weight, not to get “ripped,” he said, but to

feel better and be healthier.

“It’s about feeling good. The weight loss will come naturally if

feeling good is your goal,” Redman said.