What Are We Gonna Do About Oprah?

Hi Everyone,

There was a story on CNN yesterday about how Oprah’s has “publicly admitted” her recent weight gain. She did an interview for O magazine, saying “how did I let this happen again?”

My first thought was, is it really news when Oprah gains weight? After that I had a chuckle at the title of the piece, “Oprah’s War on Weight.” So we’ve gone from the ‘War On Terror’, to ‘War in the Middle East’ to a war on fat? I think CNN’s editorial people might be running out of ideas…their next piece will be something like ‘War on Unemployment’, or ‘War on the Economy’, just watch.

On a more serious note, that got me thinking, I mean, how incredibly brave she is. We’re talking about one of the most visible women in the world, and all she wants to do is disappear. Think you’ve got problems?

This whole process of losing weight and getting healthy is often characterized as a fight (e.g. “battle of the bulge”). I just think it’s time for a new paradigm, as MOST people are not exactly running toward a fight.

I’m sure many can relate to Oprah’s struggles with her weight, and there are good reasons for that. Misinformation is one of the biggest ones, in my opinion. But it’s also about having the right mindset. Instead of always fighting yourself, let’s talk about working with yourself, or living in your higher self, which simply means you care about yourself and help yourself by creating the conditions for you to feel, look, and perform at your best.

That’s what eating right and exercising are all about.

But it is not something that you do once, and then forget about it. It’s a lifetime commitment. And few things are more rewarding than living healthy and fit, I promise you that.

It’s a new year, and a great time to forgive yourself and start fresh on your fitness goals. To avoid what I call the “bursting resolution bubble”, here are five tips for making your new year’s resolutions stick.

1. Define (or re-define) your fitness goals and why they are important to you. As philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche says, “He who has a strong enough why can bear almost any how.” Is your goal motivated by a fear of disease, a desire for more confidence and self-esteem, to be a good role model for your children or grandchildren, to be more attractive and desirable to your spouse? Isolate the core emotional reasons why, list them out, tape to your bathroom mirror and refrigerator and read them each day.
2. Find your starting point. Take ‘baseline’ measurements of your weight, blood pressure, body fat percentage, body mass index, resting heart rate and circumference of your waist, hips, arms and thighs. Anything that is measured and watched consistently improves. In order to gauge progress, measurements should be documented once a month. Keep in mind that as you begin to exercise, body weight rarely changes at the rate we hope, but other measurements will. Use them as motivation.
3. Design a comprehensive program. This is where a certified fitness professional is irreplaceable. Books, magazine articles, and other generic guidance will not suffice. A personalized program addressing the specific needs of the individual is highly recommended as everyone is different. Most certified personal trainers offer program design independent of their training services. This can serve as an inexpensive starting point for most people.
4. Get Support. How many people this year will join a gym, just to stop going after a few weeks? How many will buy expensive exercise equipment that sits in the basement and substitutes as a coat rack, or something you hang the laundry on to dry? The point is this, it is far too easy to rationalize and get away with NOT doing something when you are accountable only to yourself. You need a good support system to make the lifestyle changes necessary to reach your goals and maintain them. A good coach is great for that, or joining a support network of people with similar goals can make all the difference as well.
5. Regularly re-assess and reward. Measure your progress on a bi-weekly or monthly basis, depending on your goal. If you’re consistently putting effort toward your goal you will notice incremental changes and you can, and should reward yourself once per week by enjoying a favorite treat (like pizza or chocolate – you know how it goes, just don’t overdo it). Knowing that you have one reward day per week gives you something to look forward to, eliminates feelings of ‘mourning’ over perceived loss, and keeps the resolution bubble from bursting.

Don’t just “let it happen again” as Oprah says, make it your best body ever in 2009.

Live Strong And Healthy,

Conor Kelly
EVOLUTION FITNESS – PERSONAL TRAINERS TORONTO
(416) 220-7883
www.personaltrainerstoronto.com

P.S. Desire is not enough to keep lost pounds from coming back! You need a definite plan, and that plan is synergy. Discover how the synergistic approach to fat loss can work for you by calling (416) 220-7883 or by clicking the image to the left to request your complimentary New Year’s Health and Fitness consultation. You’ve got a goal, now get the plan!