If you are a reader of my blog you know that I love Rachel and Alwyn Cosgrove, a husband and wife team who own an immensely successful training facility in California called Results Fitness.  They both write some really good stuff ~ I previously shared Rachel’s article Women Have It All Wrong, and Alwyn’s Hierarchy of Fat Loss.  Today I want to share another piece from Alwyn titled “Halfway to 2012.”  I love this piece because Alwyn is trying to make all of us accountable for those “New Year’s Resolutions” that we set way back at the beginning of the year.  Remember how motivated you were after over-indulging from Thanksgiving until New Year’s?  Remember how this was really going to be the year that you lost weight, exercised more, looked for a new job, ate better or (insert goal here)?  How many of you were successful?  How long did you last?  How close to your goal did you get?  If you achieved your goal or are still on track, then congratulations to you.  But I can guarantee you are in the minority.  Working in a gym, I see it every January…the gym is packed, it is hard to find a parking place, you have to wait for equipment, spin classes are booked within minutes of the sign-up sheet opening up….You should come back in mid to late February…you can park closer, get into any class you want, no waiting for the showers afterwards…I see it every year.  By the end of January we have lost probably 75% of the “New Year’s Resolution” folks.  By mid-February we have lost another 20%.  One statistic says that 40% of new gym members will stop going to the gym “soon after” joining while another statistic finds that 90% of gym members will stop going within 90 days of joining.  

If you’ve fallen off the “New Year’s Resolution Wagon,” don’t berate yourself.  Just get back on.  Set some new goals, realistic goals, small, incremental goals (see my blog post Goals!) and start over.  I think the summer is actually a great time to start a fitness routine.  You don’t even need to join a gym (therefore you don’t have to worry about being one of those statistics).  Get outside!  Walk, jog, ride a bike, swim, hike…just move.  Make it fun.  Make it part of your regular routine.  Read Alwyn’s piece above and get recharged, re-motivated.  And get to it!