Well if you are still exercising on regular basis as one of your New Year’s Resolution then congratulations are in order. You see, most people that start exercising as one of their New Year’s Resolutions start around January 5th, and stop by January 31st.

Life gets in the way, as if Life is ever going to just step aside so you can devote as much time as you like to your health and fitness. No that is not going to happen and that is why I am here to be your cheerleader IF and this is a big if, IF you are continuing with your resolution. If not, then it is time to kick start the plan again before you give up all hope.

First try to find something you will enjoy doing, there are plenty of choices especially here in South Florida with the weather being cooperative year round.

Weight training, dance, pilates, yoga, bike riding, rollerblading,
walking – the beach, mall, parks, stairs, plenty of options, biking, canoe, scuba diving, snorkeling, swimming, you get the idea.

Do something, do anything on a regular basis for you physical and mental health. Keep in mind people who exercise on a regular basis experience depression 1/3 less than people that do not.

The regular exercise routine is one component and the other is your food intake or nutrition. I will not spend a lot of words on this subject this time, rather I will leave you with this quote :

“Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances of survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to vegetarian diet.”
Albert Einstein

Recruit: Ali I have been working out, but I don’t see any results?
Ali: How long have you been working out?
Recruit: I have been going to the gym regularly and eating healthy for 4 weeks now.
Ali: Try to maintain composure, do not laugh out loud.

This is from an actual conversation and because I knew the person for years I did laugh out loud and he shared the laugh although he did not why, however, laughter is contagious as we all know.

 This person last exercised on a regular basis in high school and that was 60 lbs. and 20 years ago. He represents many of Americans with similar circumstances.

There is a disconnect of critical thinking skills when it comes to exercise and losing weight or re-shaping one’s body. In all other areas of life the same people can come to logical reasonable conclusions. When it comes to fitness something happens in the brain that continues to amaze and entertain me.

Let’s take my friend as the example, he was more than happy to tell me in high school he was a good athlete, Varsity Football Player, a strapping 190 lbs. of muscle with a 32 inch waistline. 20 years later he is 250lbs. of shall we say less than strapping and more like rounded matter with a 44 inch waistline.

OK, so averaging weight gain of 3 lbs. per year because he did not gain 60 lbs at once but gradually over 20 years. He, like most people want 4 weeks to fix what took multiple years to break.

I told him to keep doing everything he is doing to the best of his ability and after another 48 weeks let me know what his results are. 

Moving into the prime time of the New Year Resolution season and the most asked question came in variations of “How long will it take me to lose 10 lbs., get in shape, get toned, and get bigger.”

Whenever people ask those types of questions they seemed surprised when I answer, “I don’t know, I have no idea,” I say this and then I explain as I will here.

It is impossible for me to know how long it would take anyone to lose weight without asking a list of questions like:
How many days per week are you going to work out?
How long are your workout sessions?
What is your dietary intake on a daily basis?
How consistent will you be when you don’t feel like working out?

Even after those questions are answered I still would not be able to tell them the answer they seek. There is no way anyone can tell another person how long it will take them to achieve a physical goal.

There is individual bio-chemistry at work and no one can predict how each person’s body will adapt to exercise in whatever form. No one can predict how fast the internal mechanisms will start to drop body fat in a person and when that person will hit their plateau. By the way everyone who attempts to lose weight will hit plateaus.

During preparation for a bodybuilding competition I started my diet 12 weeks prior to competition and it took 5 weeks for my body to “break” and start to lose weight, then during the 6th week the body fat starting melting off, but the process was very frustrating for me.

Ask not how long it will take you to achieve your goal, ask how long you will go until you achieve your goal.