Resolutions That Worked

  Mid-January, most people are still in a disciplined mind-set. The over-indulging the Holidays bring usually add some weight and a feeling of lethargy. The routine of having a set schedule helps as far as health and fitness goes, and everyone has a built in support system of people at the gym and friends who are in the same boat (as well as an endless stream of commercials expounding the virtues of one diet plan or another).
    Staying focused for an entire year is a whole other challenge. I remember a nutrition professor in college saying that you if you lost one pound a year for your adult life, you would be doing great. That seems so easy, yet most individuals gain a pound or two every year of their adult life.  Need proof? Thumb through a wedding album.
    The New York Post ran an article called the "Year In Renew" by Lauren Steussy and Molly Shea. The article chronicled five New Yorkers who changed their life over the past year, in different ways. Here is a capsule:
   QUITTING ALCOHOL: a 46-year old Queens woman named Kambri Crews opened a successful new restaurant/bar in Astoria. Dealing with the stresses a business like that can present (as well as the limitless amount of liquor available), she sipped wine throughout the day. She put on close to 40 lbs. to her attractive 5-9 frame, and generally felt miserable. Kambri quit, cold turkey; began biking to work, and went on the South Beach diet. The wine was replaced by seltzer with lime or lemon wedges. The weight she put on disappeared over the year's time. Ironically, partially because of the weight loss, a lump was found in her breast that an earlier mammogram had missed. The loss of weight in her breasts enabled the doctors to discover it! She's going through radiation treatments now
(and biking there, as well) , and has put the drinking totally to rest.
   EXERCISE AS AN ANTI-DEPRESSENT: Sam Smullen, a 56-year old structural engineer, had been feeling down for many years; the combination of long hours on the job and drowning his sorrows in beers at a Gowanus bar several nights a week. The ex-Marine, 5-9 and 210 lbs. at the time, stumbled across runners from the group Hash NYC. He asked if they were a running club, and they said, "No, we're a drinking club with a running problem"
    Figuring he had half the equation down already, Sam joined them the next week and lumbered through a mile or two. He stuck with it, though, completing a 5-K shortly afterward, and building up to the marathon distance. Unbelievably, he's completed seven 26.2-milers in the last two years, and also completed the New York City Triathlon. Without even altering his diet radically, he's dropped 70 lbs., and has other running goals ahead. "Each day I have something to look forward to," The Park Slope resident said. "Running took me out of myself."
   STOPPING BINGE EATING: Alex DePinto, a 28-year old Post video producer,  would often eat to the point of sickness - whole pizzas and full cartons of ice cream were not out of the norm. A Personal Trainer friend of his offered to work with him for free, in exchange for Alex producing videos for the gym. Starting out once a week, Alex typically hated it. He gradually increased the number of workouts a week, and began looking forward to hitting the gym. Now up to five days a week, two hours at a time, Alex has dropped 48 lbs., and changed his relationship with food.
    Like everyone else, Alex still loves his pizza and burgers, but now just eats reasonable amounts. It's not about deprivation, it's just keeping everything under control and exercising!
  CHANGING HABITS FOR A CHILD: Marsha Parker, a standardized test tutor, had been slim most of her life. However, before giving birth to her daughter seven years ago, she ballooned to 260 lbs. Going up a flight of stairs to her Bronx residence became an ordeal.
   Smartly, she taught healthy eating habits to her daughter, but was not following them herself. She vowed to lead by example.
    Marsha's fitness journey began with kickboxing classes and simple diet fixes like giving up soda. She dropped to 185 lbs. by last March, and then discovered running, via the Mile High Run Club at a local gym.
    She is a sleek 150 lbs. now and loves the comradeship and completion of doing local 5 and 10-K's. He greatest reward came when her daughter put her arms around her, and said, "Mommy I'm so proud of you!"
    IT'S NEVER TOO LATE!: Denise Munroe, an administrator at NYU, was 58, carrying 210 lbs. on her 5-5 frame, and pre-diabetic. With a family history of diabetes, she knew a lifestyle change had to be in order. She started on her dietary choices first, cutting down on chips, cookies, and red meat and adding more fresh vegetables and other healthy goods. She tried, but didn't love, aerobic classes, and finally took up walking and slow jogging. Denise hooked up with the New York City Road runners for some group runs, and thrived on the group energy, even though she usually was the last to finish. "Other runners would wait for me at the end," The Brooklynite recalled. "It's what made me come back every week."
    Denise dropped 40 lbs. with her regimen, and began running races.  At age 60, she completed the Disney World Marathon last January, and followed that up with the New York Marathon in November. She's also no longer pre-diabetic!    
    This article shows that there are a lot of ways to get there - a healthy life. Consult with a doctor, figure out what you like to do exercise-wise, and don't look at food as a sacrifice or reward. Hopefully, you will be a 2018 success story!