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To Fail or Not to Fail

Dec 29, 2017 12:35PM ● By Tina Wilkerson, CPT, CES

New Year’s resolutions provide a great opportunity for self-reflection and goal setting. For many people, weight loss is the goal. But many folks find themselves making the exact same resolution to lose weight over and over each year. In an ideal scenario, we would set that goal, reach it, and move on to something else. So, why do so many of us find ourselves revisiting our weight-loss goals each January? Well, there are two reasons.

    First of all, individuals depend too much on exercise for weight loss. We have been told that exercise is a great tool for weight loss. This is why there is always some new DVD or new workout program being marketed by local gyms. But the reality is this: Exercise alone is pretty useless for weight-loss purposes. Why? One simply cannot outrun (literally and figuratively) excess calorie consumption. The average person usually doesn’t have the time or ability to exercise like an Olympic athlete. Most people burn 200 to 300 calories during an average workout; however, this can quickly be undone by one glass of wine, a candy bar, or that small side of French fries that taste so good.

    Secondly, many rely too much on willpower. Recent neurological studies

show that most individuals have about 15 minutes of “cumulative willpower” in a given day—that’s it! And many use that amount up before arriving to work in the morning. Think about all of the things someone might have to do each day that require him or her to use some amount of self-discipline or self-control. If you had to force yourself out of bed today, then you’ve probably used some of your collective 15 minutes of willpower already. What about the self-control required to “wrangle” the children out of the house and to the bus stop on time?

    The bottom line is that most of us do not love or enjoy exercising and many more overindulge in foods that do not cooperate with set weight-loss goals. Both of these difficult obstacles give little chance of success for those struggling to find success. This is why so many people find themselves making the same weight-loss resolutions over and over each year. If one can’t totally count on exercise or willpower to lose weight, then what can one count on?

    The answer is simple. In one word, accountability; in two words, get help; in three words, change your world. You cannot play around with weight loss. It takes significant daily changes in lifestyle and habits to create enough of a metabolic difference to produce a measurable loss in weight.

    This is the reason why so many people benefit from the help of a personal trainer. By making a financial commitment to seek out accountability, an individual is putting some sacrificial “skin in the game,” and being positioned in a way to be held accountable for logging food, weighing in weekly, and rearranging one’s schedule to accommodate and keep workout commitments. If weight loss is one of your goals for 2018, maximize your ability to succeed by making the financial, emotional and logistical commitment to make it happen.

    In 2017, clients of Elite Personal Training Studio lost a collective 341 pounds! We can help you too. Call 803-749-4279 today to schedule a free consultation. You have nothing to lose but weight!

Elite Personal Training Studio is located at 1186 Columbia Ave., Ste. 101, in Irmo. For more information, visit ElitePersonalTrainingStudio.com. 

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