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Resolve to Keep New Year's Resolutions *** Carefully Consider Lifestyle Changes to Succeed, Says Psychologist

Posted on: Sunday, 1 January 2006, 18:00 CST

By CHANTE DIONNE WARREN

Resolve to keep New Year's resolutions *** Carefully consider lifestyle changes to succeed, says psychologist

Weekly family workouts at Foxys Co-ed Fitness Center keep Laurie and Matt Randall of Baton Rouge in shape and in love.

The couple resolved this year to lose weight and to continue exercising with each other and with their children at the health club on Rhoda Drive.

We love it here, said Laurie, 33, who places her 21-month-old son, Jackson, in the fitness centers on-site child care service during her workouts. It helps me to be a better wife, a happier mom and a better all-around person.

Their 5-year-old daughter, Ally, also attends a childrens fitness class each Saturday while her parents stretch, lift weights and pedal their stationary bikes together.

Its a family workout day on Saturday, Laurie Randall said.

The Randalls and thousands of other people this year are honoring an age-old tradition of making New Years resolutions and committing to a behavioral change, a Baton Rouge psychologist said.

The new year is a fresh start and thats the time people want to make a change, clinical psychologist F. Charles Frey said.

Frey said losing weight and exercising, quitting a bad habit and paying off debts remain among several of the most popular resolutions people make.

Though as many as 60 percent of people making resolutions drop them within six months, people who make resolutions are 10 times more successful than those who do not make a formal commitment, Frey said of most research hes studied.

It is a natural tendency for people to want to make improvements in their lives, Frey said. There are always things we can improve on and its part of life to have healthy habits and not so healthy habits, he said.

Health and fitness centers such as Foxys Co-ed Fitness Center on Rhoda Drive, where memberships skyrocket during January, show evidence of peoples New Year resolves, General Manager Speedy Gonzales said.

You see a large surge of people coming in with New Years resolutions to gain, lose or attain a better fitness level, Gonzales said. If we stay more fit, we stay well.

New Years exercise enthusiasts also head for businesses including Fitness Expo on Airline Highway, which sells exercise and health equipment.

Business is strong in December and stays that way through mid- February with people deciding this is the year for the new them and changing into a healthy lifestyle, said Todd Meyer, assistant manager at Fitness Expo. He said elliptical cross trainers are top sellers.

For the Randalls, exercising away from home works best, they said.

Laurie Randall participates in several of Foxys fitness classes and she watches her caloric intake, she said.

It gets my day started and when I leave the gym, I feel good physically and I feel good mentally because Ive done something healthy for myself, Laurie Randall said.

She said her weight fluctuated during the years she bore children. I hope that this year I will hit my goal.

The workouts are preventative health care, she said. I want to be as healthy now so that when Im older, I dont have to take medication for cholesterol or high blood pressure.

When the couple is not spending time in the gym, Matt is running his private dental office and Laurie maintains the bookkeeping, they said.

But the workouts are among the bonds that help keep the couple close, said Matt Randall, who is the same age as his wife 33. Weve been exercising together for 14 years, since college, he said.

Keeping the resolution

Tips for staying on course with New Year's resolutions:

It is important that someone is past the point of making internal commitments to change and is actually ready to make overt behavorial change.

It is better to focus on short-term goals, rather than ultimate outcomes. Think about steps you can take and monitor on a weekly basis.

Ingredients for poor outcomes include skipping the step of "considering changes," and making hasty and impulsive resolutions at the last minute.

If you slip, try to avoid blaming yourself and scrapping the resolution altogether. Don't assume that one lapse indicates you don't have the willpower to change. Look at the situational factors that may have contributed to it and use that information to increase your chances for success.

Source: F. Charles Frey, Baton Rouge clinical psychologist

Source: Advocate; Baton Rouge, La.

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