By Staff Writer - February, 3rd 2014

It's the same old story. As December winds down, we can't wait to press the reset button and start the New Year off with renewed enthusiasm. We promise to create distance from the drive thru and drop a few pounds. We even order a new pair of sneakers to kick everything off. We're filled with resolve as we set out to tackle new goals and follow through on old ones that have fallen to the wayside. So, if we're all amped up and decked out, why do so many of us drop the ball and fail to follow through?

by Dr. K.J. McLaughlin

It’s the holiday season and most of you may not have health or fitness on your minds but it may be a really good idea to begin your quest for better health now instead of waiting until the New Year. Why wait until the first week or two of January to make meaningful changes to your lifestyle? Just think about how far ahead you will be when the New Year arrives and how confident this will make you!

Here are a few tips that you can use to get started:

1. Write down your health and fitness goals on a piece of paper from the most to the least important.
2. Write down on the same paper, in order of priority, the steps you will have to take to achieve these goals.
3. Give yourself a reasonable timeline to reach each goal and write this down beside each goal.

Now, take a food inventory of …

If you've never worked out in your life, the thought of weight training every day, doing cardio, and cleaning up your nutrition plan sounds like a huge task. Once it hits you, you're likely to quit before you even start. That is, unless you're committed. That's why we call the commitment the “turning point.” It's the last step in achieving the proper mindset—the point in the process after which everything that follows becomes about working toward getting results.

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