A new resolve for life
The waiter comes to the table at a casual dining restaurant and says the six most dreaded words ever spoken to someone who is trying desperately to be faithful to a diet…Did you leave room for dessert?
The sweet-deprived person thinks, “Of course, I want dessert. All I’ve eaten today is a stalk of celery and a bag of M&M’s I found in the back seat of my car.”
Never is there a time of more candy deprivation than when the calendar opens to reveal that feared month— January, when Americans lace up their tennis shoes and try, for a few weeks, to lose weight and get in shape.
At first things are going great. There’s an extra skip in the step as people drag themselves to kickboxing every morning at 6:15. But as the days wear on and an ice storm threatens to keep the resolution holder from exercising, it becomes easier and easier to forget resolutions and put them off for another time.
However, it is not worth putting off feeling better and looking better.
Last semester, waking up in the morning was a chore. I felt fatigued and almost fluish. I couldn’t seem to get over feeling tired. I even went so far as to go to the doctor, but nothing came of it.
Not only did I feel horrible the majority of the time, I felt like a blob. I felt unproductive and unhealthy. It didn’t help that I was constantly reminded of my inadequacies by others around me who had conquered their unwholesome ways and were always happy to see me. I even started to resent them.
As New Year’s Day approached, I knew that I would once again resolve to be healthier and in shape, but I felt defeated even before beginning. I knew my track record with dieting and exercising, especially at the beginning of the year, and I told myself subconsciously that if I failed, I could just try again later.
Then, as I sat in my living room waiting for the ball to drop 2,000 miles away in New York City, I thought about my life dreams and my goals for the future. Those dreams never seemed further away. I knew in that moment that I was far from the person I would need to be to accomplish those things.
I resolved not to make a resolution this year, but to change the way I lived. I wasn’t going to “diet” or form an exercise plan. I was just going to eat better and be active.
I have also started drinking more water and trying to cut out refined sugar from my diet, such as candy. If a bad habit can stick in 20 days, so can a good habit.
Several Web sites are dedicated to helping people start eating healthy and exercising.
Fitday.com offers a free online journal to start tracking food intake, exercise, weight loss and goals. The online account is free, but it also offers software to purchase for a complete healthy living package.
Even though the semester has just begun, I already feel a difference. I’m able to get up for 8 a.m. classes and be alert. I can even stay awake the whole day without taking a power nap. I feel as though I’ve added more hours to the day, and I’m edging ever closer to the goals I’ve spent my whole life reaching for.