A Resolution Is Just A Fancy Word for "Goal."

According to USA.gov, the ten most popular New Year's Resolutions are as follows:

• Drink Less Alcohol
• Eat Healthy Food
• Get a Better Education
• Get a Better Job
• Get Fit
• Lose Weight
• Manage Debt
• Manage Stress
• Quit Smoking
• Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
• Save Money
• Take a Trip
• Volunteer to Help Others

More than half of them are health-related, which tells you that: (1) People know they're in piss-poor shape, and (2) they know something has to be done about it. But the problem, it seems, is that folks aren't sure how to achieve their goals. According to University of Minnesota psychology professor Marti Hope Gonzalez, research indicates that 80 percent of those who make New Year's Resolutions fail to keep them past February -- only to start over again the following January.

Ten years ago, a study published in American Psychologist termed this cycle of futility the "False Hope Syndrome" -- a phenomenon "particularly common among those who resolve to lose weight" due to “unrealistic goals and a misunderstanding of [their] own behavior.”

So what's the answer? How can we set goals and actually achieve them?

My thoughts:

Be reasonable. All goals -- not just resolutions -- should be S.M.A.R.T: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Simply saying that you want to "get healthier" isn't going to give you any metrics by which you can track progress or hold yourself accountable. Instead, set milestones and deadlines to check up on your incremental progress. And don't go crazy with unattainable resolutions -- otherwise, you'll rob yourself of the satisfaction you'll feel when you hit your goals.

Focus on behaviors and actions, not results. A resolution like “I wanna drop 30 pounds” or "I wanna deadlift 3 times my bodyweight" offers you no path to success. Instead, make a checklist of concrete, doable actions that’ll put you in the right direction -- like "I'm cutting sugar from my diet for the next 21 days" or "I'm signing my ass up for a 100-burpee challenge."

Do some research. So what if Gwyneth Paltrow eats nothing but twigs and does hundreds of reps of 3-pound lifts? And who cares if Rich Froning subsists on a diet of chocolate milk, protein shakes, and peanut butter and jelly? Blindly copying others won't transform you into a skinny movie star or the Fittest Man on the Planet. Before you set a goal, consider whether it's something that's actually likely to do you (or others) some good.

Tell people about your goals. It's all too easy to let yourself off the hook. If no one knows about your goals, no one'll get on your butt about sticking to them. But if you're serious about your resolutions, yell it from the mountaintops. (Or, more realistically, Facebook.) You don't have to be annoying about it, but make sure your support system of friends and family are aware that you're marching towards a goal so they can: (1) help you; (2) understand why you're not eating bread all of a sudden; (3) kick your ass if you try to give up. Plus, I've found that one of the greatest motivators is peer pressure (a.k.a. public shaming.)

Make it fun. If it's not enjoyable, it's not sustainable. Want to know why people don't stick to super-restrictive diets? Because they feel deprived. And why don't folks keep going to the globo-gym after January? Because endlessly climbing a StairMaster in slow motion is mind-numbing. So devise ways to keep things fun and interesting -- whether it's by using a kick-ass iPhone app to track your weight loss progress or by joining a running group.

Lastly, don't save your resolutions for January. Who says you can only set personal goals once per annum? Keep setting short- and long-term goals for yourself throughout the year, and work to methodically check 'em off the list.

Go to it, people.

Brittle

Gwyneth Paltrow announced recently that she's been diagnosed with osteopenia, a precursor to osteoporosis. Her bone mineral density is lower than normal, and her Vitamin D levels are "the lowest [her doctors] had ever seen."

The inter-tubes are already abuzz with speculation as to how she could have developed such a condition at the ripe old age of 37. After all, hasn't she been proselytizing about her strict macrobiotic diet and her celebrity trainer, Tracy Anderson?

My unsolicited opinion: Her nutrition and fitness regimen are, ironically, the culprits.

First of all, macrobiotic diets call for lots of whole grains (brown rice is BIG), legumes, vegetables, and fruit. And a little fish. What's missing? Vitamin D. Gwyneth is a kale junkie, so she clearly ate her share of dark, green, leafy vegetables -- a decent source of calcium.

But without Vitamin D, you can’t sufficiently absorb dietary calcium. When this happens, your body's forced to draw calcium from your bones, which weakens your existing skeleton and prevents you from forming strong, new bone.

I'm sure that Tracy Anderson's insanely stupid workouts contributed to Gwyneth's increasingly brittle frame. Case in point: Anderson claims that no woman should ever lift more than three pounds, which is just plain dumb. Check out this video from Oprah:



Take it from Well+GoodNYC:

Not only is it really inefficient advice -- Anderson has clients do hundreds of reps -- it’s also downright dangerous. Lifting weights prevents bone loss, and may even help build new bone. And using real weights produces real results. “Women burned nearly twice as many calories in the two hours after their workout when they lifted 85 percent of their max load for eight reps than when they did more reps (15) at a lower weight (45 percent of their max),” according to a study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. And guess what? They didn’t bulk up.

The myth that resistance training makes women turn into female bodybuilders has been thoroughly debunked. As the New York Times put it not too long ago:

[T]he notion [that lifting heavy weights makes you big and bulky] is not supported by science. Producing bulky muscles requires not just heavy weights but heavy calorie consumption as well, typically far above the 2,000 daily calories recommended for many adults.

For people who lift weights to tone up and slim down, experts say, a regimen that includes a combination of challenging weights and fewer repetitions can help significantly.

Wake up, Gwyneth. Lift something heavier than a carton of orange juice once in a while. Strength training improves bone density, and it's great for women. Besides, most women (and men) have to pick up and move things that are heavier than three pounds (e.g., books, casseroles, small children, briefcases, chairs, carry-on luggage, big boxes of stuff from Costco). Doing "hundreds of reps" of super-light weights for 10 hours a week has no real-world application at all, unless you're a factory worker with an incipient case of repetitive strain injury. And you're not.

Kale Kale Kale Kale Kale

Does your preferred workout style reflect your core personality?

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Robert Downey Jr. employed a highly improvisational, sledgehammerific, crazy/weird/fun-sounding training program to prep for Iron Man 2, which seems to fit his reputation as an outsized, off-the-wall actor.

His co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, however, followed an achingly strict and monotonous regimen that involves doing black & white workout DVDs from an oddly silent Tracy Anderson and ingesting massive amounts of kale. I wish I could spend the rest of this post speculating about what this narcolepsy-inducing routine says about Ms. Paltrow's personality, but...can't...stay...awake...

Zzzzzz.