New Year's Commitments

Have you ever made a New Year's resolution? Most of us have. You resolve to go to church more, talk to your family more, do more things with your friends, or quit smoking or drinking.

Perhaps the most common New Year's resolution that is made each year in America is the resolution to lose weight. After holiday face stuffing, during which people gain an average of 4 pounds a year, the guilty parties (I was one for years) resolve to lose weight and get down to an arbitrary goal weight. Full of piss and vinegar, they go to the local gym. The gym just happens to be running a big special designed to help people lose weight in the region of their wallet, and is happy to relieve them of a years worth of membership fees.

The resolutioner, let's just call him Jake, since this was me for years, goes to the gym every day for the first week. He hits the treadmill and the weight machines, and gets sore and feels like crap. Soon after, daily turns to weekly, which becomes not at all. Don't believe me? Go to your local gym this week, and notice how many people are there. Then go on February 1st, and do another count. I would be surprised if more than 60% the number of people are there. Prove me wrong, and leave a comment if you disagree!

The same happens with our diets. A friend of mine who is a reporter in New York just did a segment on the top ten diets as rated by US News and World report (I am not linking to it, because they are mostly useless. Since when can a news magazine tell you anything about losing weight). The point is that people want to hear a lot about diets this time of year. The gym phenomenon plays out in the area of diet as well. Jake goes out to diet until he weighs 180 lbs, and begins a program, such as Weight Watchers. He follows the rules very strictly... for a week or so, until the first time he messes up. Once he messes up, he feels like a failure, and the shame and self-loathing come back, along with the comfort food to bury those feelings. Before long, Jake has given up and gained another five pounds.

I know this story so well because I lived it for years. I am guessing that many of you know it as well. Fortunately, over long bitter experience, I learned how to break the cycle, and finally lose the weight for real. It's not about a gym, and it's not about a diet, although those are both necessary tools. It is all about attitude.

The reason that virtually all New Year's resolutions fail is because the focus is all wrong. Jake was never really committed to his health. All he cared about was losing a little weight so that he could feel good about himself. Thus, when his commitment was tested, as all commitments are, he gave up. If you want to lose weight and achieve optimum health, your focus must be on something deeper than just fitting into a pair of jeans, or even looking good in the mirror. These superficial ideals will never sustain the dedication required to lose a significant amount of weight.

Instead, your focus must be on something greater than yourself. Only dedicating yourself to a cause outside yourself will give you the staying power to endure through the days that you don't want to work out, and the days where it seems like cookies are everywhere, and the days that it seems that your scale is possessed by demons.

What should your focus be? Frankly, I have no idea. Mine, just so you know is my family and God. I want to be around on Earth as long as possible, to do God's work, and to help grow and lead my family. That commitment gets me through the rough patches and down days, and strengthens me when I am feeling weak.

Don't get me wrong, life is not perfect. In fact, it is brutally IMperfect. Temptation is still ever present, and for me at least, it is very strong. Having a higher cause makes my success mean more than a momentary temptation, and allows me to persevere, even if (when) I fail.

This year, instead of a New Year's resolution, I encourage you to make a New Year's commitment. Commit yourself to your health because of something other than your looks, emotions, or jeans size. Make that commitment public, and dedicate yourself to it totally. That is the only way to truly succeed.

If you do commit to your health, do me two favors: first, comment about what your greater cause is, so that I can help encourage you, and pass this blog along to your friends who might be struggling.

Good Luck!

M. Jacob Ott, M.D.