Page 38 - BusinessWest January 9, 2023

One Step at a Time
Keeping New Year’s Health Resolutions Starts with a Realistic Plan
BY JOSEPH BEDNAR
[email protected]
“When they’re setting those resolutions at
the beginning of the year, most people want to do everything as fast as possible. But that doesn’t really work. Fitness is one of those things that needs to be a lifestyle change.”
Drew McConaha knows all about New Year’s resolutions. And he knows why so many of them fail.
In many cases, it’s a desire to do too much, too quickly, the
owner of Train for Life in Chicopee said.
“When they’re setting those resolutions at the beginning of the
year, most people want to do everything as fast as possible: ‘I want to get into the gym six days a week,’ or ‘I want to go on the latest diet craze.’ They want to go 100 miles an hour into that. But that doesn’t really work. Fitness is one of those things that needs to be a lifestyle change.”
At a time of year when people traditionally set goals for fit- ness, nutrition, and other types of wellness — and often leave them behind by February — area health experts told BusinessWest the same thing: starting small is key.
“Most everyone wants to set goals; they say, ‘I want to lose
10 pounds,’ or whatever,” said McConaha, who explained that he works with members to write those goals down, examine them, and then — this is key — setting small action steps to make them more manageable.
“If you come to the gym three days a week for a year, after a year, you’re going to make a huge amount of progress,” he said. “But if you start out going to the gym five days in a row and you haven’t been exercising for 10 years, you’re very unlikely to get back there for week two, because you’re going to be so sore, and that’s unmo- tivating, because now you can’t move; you can’t go about your daily activities. Lots of times, that’s what derails people when they jump into something at the beginning of the year.”
Drew McConaha says breaking a fitness plan into manageable steps is key to sticking to health resolutions.
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38 JANUARY 9, 2023 << HEALTHCARE >> BusinessWest