Stick With It
It's a New Year's tradition as common as popping champagne at midnight: the resolution to lose weight and live healthier in the coming year.
And yet, before January is over, a majority of those diet and exercise declarations are as discarded and forgotten as New Year's Eve confetti.
Unrealistic goals, overambitious exercise routines and poor diet torpedo many self-improvement plans, according to Kathy Hensler, healthy living director at the Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA, 2001 Ehrman Road, Cranberry Township, and Erin Nicotra, one of the 11 personal trainers on staff at the facility.
Hensler said of many resolution-makers, “I think they try to do too much too soon. Being healthy and fit is a process. It is not a program, it's a lifestyle.”
Nicotra said, “People have these unrealistic plans: 'I want to lose 30 pounds.' It should be 'This week I am going to lose two pounds.'”
Aaron Hochmann, healthy living director at the Butler YMCA, 339 N. Washington St., which has six personal trainers on staff, said, “The biggest thing with anyone that makes any type of New Year's resolution and doesn't stick with them is they make resolutions that are impossible to achieve — They say they want to lose 40 pounds by March. They don't achieve the results they feel they should have and they fall off the map.”
Hensler said too many people jump into the gym Jan. 2 and exercise too much and get sore, or injure themselves, or get discouraged when the pounds aren't coming off fast enough to suit them.
Hochmann said, “People set very unrealistic goals for the time they want to achieve them. Nobody wants to do it over a long period of time. They want to do it as fast as possible.”
To avoid that outcome will take some planning.
“It's coming up with a plan. Without a plan, people can just get overwhelmed and they just stop going. Failure to plan is planning to fail,” said Nicotra.
Hochmann said, “There are short-term goals and long-term goals. Long-term goals can be to lose 40 or 50 pounds, I don't care how long it will take.
“A short-term goal would be to lose five to eight pounds. Do that, and I will set another short-term goal for myself. Small but attainable goals that will keep the energy levels up. In five to six months you will have lost 40 to 50 pounds,” he said.
Hensler said, “You have to have a plan. There has to be accountability. You have someone pushing you, making you feel better about yourself along the way.”
Hensler and Hochmann both suggested people considering a lifestyle change get together with a personal trainer.Hensler said, “Each new member that walks through the door gets a free half-hour with a personal trainer. We also offer personal training for non-YMCA members. They pay a little more. We also offer group personal training classes.”Hensler said it's not unusual to use a personal trainer to set up an exercise program.She pointed out virtually all major sports figures and Olympic athletes use personal trainers to get and keep their “winning edge.”Tens of thousands of corporate executives at all levels rely on coaches to ensure their success.Hensler added thousands of “just plain folks” use personal trainers to find better health and energy, improve fitness, gain needed support in making wiser food choices and to lose weight.Hensler said that the surest way to get results is to use professional help. A few months of training can save years toward achieving a fitness goal.Hensler said a trainer can help you develop a realistic exercise plan and stick with it when an exerciser runs into the inevitable plateaus.A trainer can assess health-history, determine current fitness levels through a fitness assessment, and understand lifestyle factors that might impact someone's abilities.A personal trainer can help the client set realistic and attainable goals for the new year.A trainer will teach proper exercise methods and progressions.Personal training takes the guesswork out of each workout. Personal trainers make a plan and method for each workout session.Nicotra said, “I teach my clients to track progress and not to see plateaus as a negative thing. You set another goal to break that plateau and hit another plateau.”
Nicotra added, “By tracking their progress. people understand why they are doing what they are doing. People take ownership of their health.”Nicotra said, 'These things aren't going to happen overnight. It is a lifestyle change.“I've had people come up to me and say things come naturally to me. But there are no secret pills. It takes work. It takes perseverance.”Hensler said, “I would say a big misconception is that exercise is key to weight loss. You can't out-exercise a crappy diet.“Food is fuel. They've got to find the fuel that allows them to work out consistently. ”Hensler said, “We have also have a registered dietitian on staff available to help members.”Hochmann said judging your success by how much weight you've lost can be deceiving.“It's misleading because you can be putting on lean muscle. Lean muscle is more dense than fat.“Two pounds of lean muscle is like a baseball. Two pounds of fat is like a volleyball,” Hochmann said. “Don't always pay attention to the scale. Look at yourself in the mirror. You'll know when you are doing something right.”When a resolution to exercise is kept deep into the new year, it's not just the trainer's client who benefits.Nicotra said, “Being a personal trainer is one of the best jobs in the world. Giving somebody inspiration is one of the greatest gifts I can give somebody.”
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