new year's unresolution!

Me playing with my camera instead of doing sit-ups!

Moderation has never
been my style. 
So, for the past New Year's I would do the usual resolutions and be a fanatic for a while, slip, feel guilty, and return to my slovenly ways. 

For the past year or so I have tried a different approach, and so far so good. My husband (who is also the chief cook here) retired last year, and we joined a gym here in town. It is one of those stripped down 24 hour gyms. All the essentials and none of the frills. This is not our first gym membership, so the equipment was all pretty familiar. Jon is much better than I at getting going, so that has helped my biggest challenge: getting to the gym.

In the past, I have had programs and records, and coaching, etc, etc. But this time decided to take it a different approach. 

Several years ago I had a "heart thingy" happen. After my doctor gave the "exercise" RX. I dutifully asked "How many minutes? How often? What?" 

---

Her response was "What do you do now?" I replied "Nothing." 
She said, "Than anything you do will be an improvement, won't it." 
That was great advice. 

Last week on NPR they were talking about resolutions and our mindsets about them. They said people think guilt will spur them on, but usually it does the opposite. If we say we are going to go to the gym five times and we go four, we feel guilty and a failure and quit without realizing we successfully made it four times more than we used to - a great success. This brings me back to our gym and eating approach for the past year. We have been eating better, and working out a lot, and consequently seeing the inevitable results... slowly but surely; But I still ate Maggie's wonderful shortbread cookies and other goodies over the holidays! We go to the gym as much as possible; But if we miss a day or two, we know we are still doing fine. Instead of feeling guilty, we anticipate the next time. If we get there, and don't feel motivated to do the weights, watching America's Next Top Model while on the treadmill is still better than not doing anything! 

Maybe there is something to this 'all things in moderation' thing after all! My hope to all of you with however you approach resolutions or not!