Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

So, you looked at the New Year’s Resolutions from last year and you’re unhappy with the results? Steve Pavlina has the answer to help you stick to your resolutions for this year.

• Steve Pavlina – Be Patient With Yourself

He is talking about personal development in general, but this article is dead on as far as weight loss is concerned. It probably took you more than a year to get fat, so it will probably take more than a year to take off the weight and learn healthy habits.

Even if you’re working a great deal on your own personal growth, you may look back on yourself a year ago and think, “I didn’t get very far this year at all.” That’s OK. It doesn’t mean you failed. For most big changes, a year is too little time. Look back at yourself five or ten years ago. Notice any differences? Unless you’re a stick in the mud, they’ll be a lot more pronounced. You’ll have a better sense of what worked and what didn’t.

A general rule of thumb is that people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year, but they underestimate what they can accomplish in five years. I’ve found this to be fairly accurate.

When I look at myself back in January of 2001, I was just starting on this road to health. I had decided never to diet again and to love myself just the way I was. That idea was liberating to me, but I also gained a lot of weight because I had finally taken off the reigns of my eating. I was closer to loving myself than I had been for a long time, but I had no idea about what was healthy and what wasn’t. I believed every dieting hype that was out there.

Five years later, I’m healthier than I’ve ever been. I exercise regularly. I’m not at my goal weight yet, but I’m much further along than I ever thought I would be when I decided never to diet again and to just love my body the way it is.

If you have been beating yourself because you’re not where you wanted to be when January 2006 rolled around, take Steve Pavlina’s advice: be patient with yourself. This is a journey. You can travel it at whatever speed works best for you.