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Starting, AND FINISHING, the year strong!

Don't let your New Year's resolutions go by the wayside

Author: Dr. Britt Dalton, PT, DPT, OCS, COMT, FAAOMPT

Happy New Year! If you are like nearly half of the American population, you have made some sort of New Year’s resolution. And the majority of these resolutions involve either losing weight or improving fitness (or both). If this is you, congratulations, you have chosen a fantastic resolution. Unfortunately, depending on which study you read, only an estimated 25% of people maintain their resolution after a month, and only around 10% of people actually accomplish their goals.

Reasons that people often fail to adhere to their resolutions, especially with regard to weight loss and/or improving fitness level, are getting too busy, losing motivation, setting unrealistic goals or having unrealistic expectations, not adequately tracking progress, and not having a plan for how to accomplish them.

When I read this, I cannot help but see the similarities in why people may fail their rehab. So often, I see people start out highly motivated in their rehab program, only to backslide within a few weeks (or sometimes a few days). Resolving pain, recovering from an injury, losing weight, and improving fitness all have a few things in common: 1) being okay with getting out of your comfort zone; 2) progress is not linear, but will be up/down; and 3) it usually TAKES TIME.

When speaking of getting out of your comfort zone, it’s not to say that you should have a “no pain, no gain” mentality, but you do need to be okay with changing how you do things. For many people, whether it's trying to resolve pain, trying to lose weight, or trying to improve fitness level, you must first decide if you are willing to give up some of the things that are hindering your progress. Skipping exercise, eating unhealthy foods, getting poor sleep, and drinking too much alcohol are all going to contribute to not seeing the improvement you want.

Now, I know you are all thinking, “yes, I know that, but it’s not that easy to stop.” You are right, it’s not. So, don’t go for the “all or nothing” approach. Start with making small, specific goals. Rather than saying you are going to exercise more, say I am going to walk 20 minutes on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Even better, set a time you are going to do it. I have found over the years that when people schedule a specific time to do something, it’s much more likely to get done. If it’s diet, start by trying to give up that one soft drink you have each day (or take one away if you have multiple). Same goes for alcohol. If neither of those is an issue for you, try to add an extra serving of vegetables or fruit to each meal. If it’s rehab, look at it the same way as exercise. When developing rehab programs, I often ask my patients how many days a week they realistically feel they can do the program. If they say “daily” or “5 days”, I will usually respond with “great, make it a goal to get it done at least 3 days/week.” This is because we are human, we are busy, and we get frustrated with failure. Look for those small successes.

As for progress, it will be up/down, not linear. Whether it’s resolving pain, losing weight, or exercising, every day is not going to be a good day. You will have some days that you feel more pain, some days that you may not lose weight or even gain a pound, and some days that you don’t feel good at the gym. That is completely normal. I advise my patients to look at progress over weeks/months, not days. There are some factors outside of your control that will influence how each day goes. Focus on what you can control and stick with the process.

Finally, understand that getting the results you want takes time. So often, people lose motivation or get frustrated and quit far too early because their expectations for improvement are not realistic. It’s very important for me in the rehab setting to try and set realistic expectations for improvement, and to point out the areas that progress is occurring in. Rehabbing, losing weight, and improving fitness are not easy. If it was, you wouldn’t see the overwhelming amount of varying rehab advice, weight loss supplements, fad diets, and fitness philosophies out there.

My final bit of advice: remember why you are doing this. Yes, you may want to lose weight or be fitter (or get out of pain) for the general benefits, but think of it as your means to being able to do those activities you enjoy for longer periods of time, for being able to play with your kids or grandkids, and for being a good example to your family and friends so that they may make the same resolution with you next year.