Dear Resolutioners,
I love you.
I’m so proud of you.
You made the decision to use this new year as a fresh start to change your life for the better. You are ready to exercise and eat right and lose the weight that’s holding you back. Congratulations on making that decision.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve done it before and failed. It doesn’t matter if this is your second or third or twentieth New Year’s resolution to lose weight. It doesn’t matter if everyone assumes you will fail – if even you assume you will fail. It doesn’t matter that the task seems insurmountable right now.
All that matters is that you’ve made the decision to change.
Most likely you’ve joined a new gym with all the best intentions of going and making exercise part of your new lifestyle. I support you! I wish you well in the gyms where you may encounter hostile gym-goers angry that you are disrupting their routine. I apologize in advance for them and hope they don’t scare you off. I hope you find new friends at your gym that will encourage you to keep going. I hope you find a trainer or employee who can help you when you get confused or don’t know what to do next. Gyms can be a wonderful place and I hope you learn that.
Whether you stick with your new changes for a few days, a few months, or the rest of your life, I support you.
You’ve done something about your situation. At the very least, you’ve acknowledged it. Maybe it will take a few tries for you to really connect with a healthy lifestyle. Or maybe this will be the spark you need and you will be forever grateful to this particular new year’s resolution. Either way, you’ve taken a step in the right direction.
A lot of blogger’s around this time take to their blogs to vent about the hordes of newcomers in their gyms (and in their blog comments). It can be frustrating to have your routine disrupted for a while, but I’m happy to see it happen. I’m happy you’ve joined us. I’m happy that things are different and more of you are trying. I’m happy that so many people are dipping their toes into a new and healthy life. I love it really. I hope most of you stick with it. I hope many of you stay.
I love you resolutioners. You’ve taken the first step of a long journey. If you need help and feel yourself faltering, please reach out and grab some support. You aren’t in this alone. You really can do it.
Love,
Mary
ps – Never give up!!
I’m happy to see the resolutioners…a few years ago I was one of them. They need encouragement just as much as the rest of us.
Every time I start to get stressed that the gym is full, I just remind myself that we were all new once. Sadly, the past two years has shown me that my gym will be back to its usual empty self by March at the latest.
Great post Mary. It’s good to read and its good to think of how much better we would all be if everyone had this attitude. :-)
Mary this is awesome! The first step can be the hardest, so I hope resolutioners see your post and are inspired/encouraged by it! I kept on waiting for the cynical retort and was so glad to not see it!
Thanks for the words of encouragement. I just held back from posting a comment on one of the blogs I have began to follow for fear of ‘intruding.’ Blogging has been great and I literally screamed outloud when I saw I had my very first follower the other day, but it can also be scary. I don’t really know anybody yet and I don’t want to step on anyones toes that’s for sure! I’ll keep trudging alone, full of new found (or re-found) resolution and with great hope that the blogosphere doesn’t give me the boot just because I’m the newbie! :-)
Trudging along, not alone sorry.
Don’t worry about stepping on toes in blogging. If you are nice and commenting on blogs positively (or with constructive thoughts) then bloggers will LOVE you. Sometimes being the new bloggers is lonely and you feel like you are talking to yourself (been there), but just keep at it and you’ll build a readership of friends. :)
I hope the resolutioners stay too, but most never do, which is why people get annoyed. I think the whole new year clogging of the gym though is a bit more the gyms faults than the worker-outers faults…shouldn’t there be a limit on the # of memberships they give out? They get greedy and oversell and then everyone is negatively affected. They could cut off the memberships and they track how many people come in, and when they see the #s drop to a more managable level, open up membership again. That way, everyone will be happy. Because the way they do it now, no one really gets to work out because of the crowdedness.
you’ve inspired me to start my own weight loss blog!
YAY! That’s wonderful! :)
Mary,
You are awesome. This comment has nothing to do with your post, but having loved your visit to Utah last year, I thought you might be interested in my latest post. :)
Aw thanks! Loved the post about Cafe Rio. I did love visiting Utah and eating good things there.
Never give up!!!
And you are right Mary- the power to change starts with making that decision.
Thanks!
:)))))) thank you for writing me a letter, mary!
Hehe. LOVE YOU!
Aww! There need to be more encouraging people out there like you! I have a treadmill and weights at home so I don’t go to the gym but just sweat it out at home and love it that way.I’m one of the lucky ones! I can put my baby down for a nap and hit the mill for my miles!
Hi Mary, I’ve just found your blog and wanted to say hi! I live in NZ too and like you I’m trying to lose weight/be healthier. I also have a slight obsession with the US and hope to visit all 50 states one day. I see you have a food blog too, I’ll check that out now. Maybe we will meet one day :)
Hi Halee! I already left you a comment but I love your blog and I’m so glad you found me. I definitely hope we can meet up one day! :)
Great comments Mary!
just recently came across your blog…ive just started my own weight loss blog…i dont have much to lose but i think we all need support from others. Will certainly keep visiting your blog.
Awesome post and so true. If more people felt and acted like this, maybe more reolutionists would become regular gym goers.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this post!
Mary, I think too many forget what it’s like to walk into that gym the first time – I am not a gym person – I havent really tried one either – but I hope there are welcoming people like you at every gym because just walking in the door is enough to give me a panic. AND since I am cheap and broke I would probably wait for the New Year sales and deals that gyms offer to newbies.
Keep on keeping on!!
Happy New year to ya!
Hi Mary, I love this. Are you taking your own advice in 2011? Feel free to visit my blog and leave a comment to tell me the answer.
Someone else just posted about being kind to newcomers; I for one, have a gym that is literally 30 seconds from my house and I don’t go because of the thought of being a newbie there. It’s terribly pathetic, I know. I do all of my gym work in front of the TV or on the treadmill which is great, don’t get me wrong; but I’ve had some pretty bad experiences at gyms where I didn’t feel welcome. I know that people want to just get their exercises done so that they can get to wherever else they need to be, but thank you for the little reminder towards the newbies.
Are gyms in NZ like that in January too? I’ve always wondered. I think besides “resolutioners” (love that term!), there are also people who work out outside almost all year but then head inside to the gyms in January and February when it’s just too cold and too much snow to do much running or other stuff outside. March through December are much more bear-able weather-wise.
Good point about the weather!
Gyms in NZ are a bit more crowded I think but I’m not totally sure. Our gym has limited hours until Jan 10 so it’s hard to tell.
Mary! Thank you! I did indeed join a gym – albeit, a few weeks ago, but I’ve only stepped in it once since then because of this stupid cold. I’m quite sure I’ll get dirty looks – heck, I got dirty looks in December, so I can only imagine what January will bring. I just need to get over this stupid cold, then, I’m off to the gym! And honestly, even if I am getting the stink eye, or snarky comments, I will imagine all of my fellow gym-goers as my buddies, there to support me. This post helps.
I will go on record and admit that during my Zumba class on Tuesday, I was one of those snooty people annoyed about all the “newbies” (I put in quotes because I only joined in late November and so I’m basically a newbie myself) crowding “my” gym. I was polite to everyone, but inside I was a little annoyed. This post makes me feel guilty — you certainly have a gracious attitude that we all would do well to adopt.
Great post. Def look forward to following your blog.
Thankyou for the support :)
This is my first new year’s resolution to loose weight and its been pretty tough already but im going to stick at it and not give up.
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