Health: In Shape

It’s February…do you know where your fitness goals for the New Year have gone? According to a nationwide study, more than 75% of women between the ages of 25 and 54 make New Year’s resolutions to diet. However, nearly 90% of respondents reported little to no success.

Losing weight is one of the most common New Year’s resolutions to make, and probably the easiest to break. Sticking to your resolution isn’t an easy task. But the longer you maintain your health, the better you’ll look and feel about yourself, and we know you’ve got it in you.

If you’ve managed to maintain your fitness goals, we salute you. However, if you’ve already swapped your calorie-counting for a cupcake, don’t get discouraged – a resolution resurrection is in store for you!  

John Cruz, a New York City fitness expert and personal trainer, knows what it takes to make, complete and maintain a fitness goal successfully. Since 1998, Cruz has been one of the top trainers at Equinox Fitness Club, helping a wide variety of clients ranging from Wall Street professionals and body-builders to college athletes and housewives, achieve their individual fitness goals. With a little motivation and some of the following simple, yet realistic, suggestions, steering back onto the road to fitness will be a piece of portion-controlled cake:

[1.] Set a realistic, short-term goal. You’ve already made the goal to get fit. But claiming that you’ll hit the gym every day, or that you’ve banned sugar and carbs for good, won’t get you very far.  People tend to set unrealistic goals for themselves, which is a definite recipe for disappointing disaster.  Cruz recommends that in order to avoid this, “Don’t overwhelm yourself with a crazy goal of losing 20 pounds in a month. Decide, instead, to commit to exercise a minimum of 20 minutes, 2 days a week, and give up fried foods.”

[2.]Plan ahead and get organized. Organization not only helps at home, but with your health, as well.  Cruz suggests “penciling your workout time in your schedule in advance and treating those times with the same priority you give your business or other people in your life.” Try planning healthy meals at the beginning of the week, creating a shopping list and making a dedicated trip to the grocery store.  Routine is key to keeping up a successful fitness regimen; otherwise, it’s difficult to take exercise seriously.

[3.]Keep cardio short, but frequent.  The idea of having to dedicate an hour or more to exercise may be daunting for a busy mom. Cruz says that exercise is more about quality, not quantity. Exercising in short, intense, 20-minute timeframes on a daily basis is not only easier for a hectic schedule, but it also burns more calories and maintains a higher metabolism for a longer period of time. According to Cruz, “Twenty minutes of exercise done properly can be more effective than a whole hour of unfocused work.”

[4.]Pick the best exercises and do them correctly. As stated previously, a successful fitness program is more about the quality of the exercise versus the quantity in order for it to be effective. “If you’re short on time, choose compound movements, which target the upper and lower body, like squats, lunges, push-ups, bent rows, tricep dips and abdominal jack knives,” Cruz explains.  

[5.]Train abs properly.  For a fabulously flab-free stomach, continue increasing the intensity of your ab exercises by adding weight and repetitions. “It’s better to do 15 repetitions in good form with added weight, than 100 sloppy or jerky ones,” Cruz says. Try hugging a medicine ball, or clenching onto a couple of extra water bottles for some added ab-resistance.  

[6.]Eat more often.  This sounds too good to be true, however, eating actually increases your metabolism. Skipping meals when on the run or crash-dieting can actually trick your body into slowing down in order to conserve calories. The slower your metabolism from a lack of food, the higher your risk for gaining weight.  Moderation is important, and eating 5 small, healthy meals is ideal for keeping your energy up and those pesky love handles off.

[7.]Drink water! Oftentimes our brains confuse thirst for hunger. If you’re ever overwhelmed by the desire to munch, whether it is boredom or your perceived need to feed, try downing a bottle of water, instead of a not-so-satisfying snack, for some refreshing rehydration – minus the unnecessary calories.

[8.]Eat slowly. Eating on the run is tempting for a mom with too much to do. However, savoring each bite, and slowing down the chow-down process actually prevents overeating, allowing the body time to realize it’s full. Suggesting that the entire family eat slowly will prolong dinner-table bonding time and prevent too-full tummy aches.

[9.]Start with a healthy filler. Tempting, but fatty foods, such as chips and cookies, may taste delicious, but they are doing nothing for our bodies, nutritionally. Opt to start off each meal with something like a salad with vegetables, which will provide the necessary fiber needed to take the edge off your hunger.


Now that you have the tools and tips for maintaining or revisiting those forgotten New Year’s fitness goals, the feeling of accomplishment you’ll have when you start seeing results will be the sweetest treat of all.


Colleen Corkery is a contributing writer to OC Family Magazine.