On diet, exercise and New Year resolutions

In my long term experience in healthcare/fitness/coaching industry ( I call it well being lifestyle) I noticed a trend. It happens every year. People make New Years resolutions to loose weight, to exercise more etc.. So they show up to the gym in great numbers in January, it slows down gradually in February and by March we are back to the few committed ones and barely seven percent of the new ones if lucky. Research shows that 80 percent of new years resolutions fizzle by February. Why is that? People are making resolutions for the wrong reasons, for instance I want to loose 20 pounds, fit in old clothes, get a bikini body by Spring break or by summer or pool season. That is great and everything, but as we know that does not withstand the test of time. So maybe you lost the 20 pounds, then your brain says, hey you're there why sweat it? Because you gave it a short term goal, maybe you achieved it,

now the brain lost motivation and done! Story over! This is short term punishment (work out) with reward at the end, which is stop exercising!! So you get back to the old habits and the old self quickly, because that's comfortable and the known and requires no effort. You identify with it.

Same with diet, it never works! Again you are restricting your body for a certain amount of time go scarce on everything and at the end you celebrate your results with French fries, pizza, soda and a shake or ice cream! What did you just do again? Punish/ reward mechanism activated! And you do that over and over, and never fails, same results! You never arrived, or you landed briefly just to slide back where you came from. So what works is

first start with: I love my body, (even when is not your ideal weight) because what you try to repel or resent comes right back at you like a boomerang! I am responsible for keeping it alive, I want to do this out of love and respect for my being and its health and sanity. Visualize your future self in that new image of body shape, feeling and being the new you, so your brain can start to get familiar with it, like it and look forward to it! The greater goal could simply be I want to be Healthy, Happy and Whole. Make this the mantra of your life then permanent change will happen. Personally, I take hot yoga 4 times a week because I want to, I love to work out, to sweat, detoxify, I see the benefits and I enjoy the results! Plus I have my own 10X 20 min routine every morning that kicks me into gear for the day. My daily routine does not include sophisticated machines, weights, etc. My own body weight used properly with yogic principles form hatha and kundalini yoga makes the perfect blend to get my energy moving, my blood flowing and the hormones secreting and I am set for a great day! So it's a life style, something that I am, not that I do. When you make that shift everything changes. I do it because I choose to and because I enjoy it and benefit from it greatly! Therefore, when it becomes a life style, your new identity, change is effortless, permanent, fruitful, enjoyable, and never stops giving!