A Thing Or Two About New Year Resolution

It starts with a "why?"

It was about a fortnight before the New Year of 2012. I was studying to be a personal trainer at the time. During one of the classes, I had my waist and hip measured for a class assignment. When my classmate, who were assigned to do my measurement, told me that my waistline was about 42 inches, I was in total shock as I thought I was reasonably fit and my waistline could not be more than 36 inches. It was really disappointing to be told that this number would put me in the "obese" category.

I could not believe that my never ending bulking season to chase the three digits number on the weight scale had led me to such depressing outcome. Upset is not big enough a word to describe my feeling at the moment. I was wondering how did I let myself go so far in the name of bulking up.

I cannot help but to see my pursuit of Herculean physique was a total failure. I could hear that little demon in me say things like "they were right when they said you're fat", "they were right when they said you don't look like you've been going to the gym", "you cannot be a personal trainer" etc. I cried. I was still in the class so I did everything I could to not let anyone notice the droplets of tears trickling down my face. For me, it was a hard pill to swallow and it took me a while to realize that I must let go of my mission to put on more weight.

The "New Year Resolution"

I need to bring my waistline down so there is no doubt that I will have to say goodbye to the excess weight that I thought was muscles. It was hard because it took me at least 4 years to move my weight from mid 70s to mid 90s. The concept of "the more the weight, the more the muscle" was deeply ingrained in me so losing weight was more than just a step backward for me. I was afraid that I will never have the Herculean physique that I always wanted. I also knew that I was looking nothing like Hercules and my body is far from aesthetically pleasing.

I must get rid of one of my weight gain regimes to lose weight. It was only about a week from New Year too. It was pretty much a time when I believe in New Year Resolution like kids believe in Santa as well so I decided that I need a New Year Resolution. But what should it be?

To lose 10kg. But how? I guess I was fortunate to ask the right question. I was focusing on an action that can be acted on not just a goal like losing 10kg.

On Christmas Eve 2011, I went to the usual burger outlet that I frequent post workout to have my "well-deserved" post workout meal after my workout. I ordered a triple patty burger, large fries and a large cup of zero sugar soft drink. Halfway through my meal, I had a light bulb moment. The New Year Resolution was born. I am not going to have burger, fries and soft drink for a year. It is actionable and not overly complicated. Just no burger, fries and soft drink for a year. It was not easy for me either since going to the burger outlet was a post workout routine that I followed for years but I am curious to see if it will make any difference in 12 months time.

I did not wait till the New Year Day to start my New Year Resolution. I stopped going to the burger outlet since that day. So that was it. Last burger meal before I made my decision.

What's Next?

Apart from my new year resolution, I also put in additional cardio sessions in my fitness regime so it only took slightly less than 2 month to drop the initial 8kg. For someone like me who never thinks I was big enough to grace the cover of Fitness Magazine, I was not very happy about how much smaller I look as my weight headed south so I dropped the cardio in an effort to slow down my fat loss.

Months after months, weight went down, back up, went down, plateau, went down and down. I must say that I was afraid of being too small but I was also very determined to have a "burger free, fries free and soft drink free" year. I wanted to know what will be the outcome in the end so I stayed on track even though I could fit my clothes better.

It was very fortunate of me to have a circle of friends who were very supportive of my slightly absurd new year resolution so there were not a lot of issues when I hang out with friends. They eat their burgers while I just sip on my bottle of water if we were out in a burger joint.

On my birthday month (October), I weighed about 82kg. That was when I met my nutrition coach and did a makeover on my diet. I remember that he asked me if I am afraid to be small. My answer was "If I can look good, I don't mind being smaller." I somehow let go of the notion of being bigger as I started to notice that my asthma is getting better ever since I lost the weight. And the confidence that I gained from being able to stay on track with my new year resolution made the whole new diet easier for me to follow.

Besides that, I also had a trainer to look after my training. Training is definitely going up to a different level. I did feel like I was the hardest working person on the gym floor after the training sessions even with my newly found energy from my makeover diet.

On Nov 2012, I lost 8kg in less than 4 weeks. I could never imagine that losing such amount of weight in the span of 4 weeks is possible for me.

Oh Boy! I was lean.

I had to use the third and even fourth hole on my belt to tighten up my jeans.

And I had six packs for the first time in my life. I could not stop the temptation to lift my shirt up whenever i am in front of a mirror by myself to appreciate the defined look of my mid section.

It came to my realization that I don't need to be heavy to have a physique that would make me proud. I was finally happy and ready for the next challenge in life. And I have not been eating burger, fries and soft drink regularly once the 12 months of abstinence was done. 7 years later, the abs are still here.

So what I learned from this experience?

- New Year Resolution should be an action like "going to gym at least twice a day", "write at least 2 paragraphs a day for a book", "read at least a book in a month", "eat 2 pieces of fruit as snack instead of cookies". Something like "Lose 10lbs", "Write a book", "Working on new business" are just simply too vague and overwhelming as there is no "how" in them. Not saying that you should not have goal but new year resolution should be an action that can be consistently acted on to achieve a goal.

- Action will become habit if you act on the new year resolution for long enough. Once your action becomes a habit, you don't need to rely on motivation to keep you fulfilling your new year resolution.

- It will take times to see positive result for most people. However, confidence you gain from seeing positive result could be handy when you meet other challenges in the future.

- Do not fall off the bandwagon once you see positive result. You can celebrate your achievement but don't forget to use the positive result as a drive to create more positive changes. Like I ended up seeking a nutrition coach and a trainer in the process to go beyond my initial goal.

That's it?

Honestly, I no longer rely on New Year Resolution to achieve anything in life even though I believe it can useful for many to take the first step to achieve their goals.

Why I don't do New Year Resolution? Because I believe that I can make changes anytime I want. I don't wait till the first day of the year to take action.

Besides, I have opportunity every single day to make continuous improvement. Why would I waste any time to improve my life after the year ends?

Anyway, I do hope that this article will help anyone who read it to muster the courage to take action to make a difference in life or even a dream to come true. Be it a New Year Resolution or just a decision to take action anytime in the year.