The LA Times posted\u00a0three\u00a0useful articles today. Rather than just pick one to highlight, I decided to run with the lot!<\/p>\n
1. “In Your Face Fitness: All You Need is Love<\/a>.” This lengthy article is my man James Fell’s take on the UltimateFatBurner.com mantra: “if it sounds to good to be true, it usually is.”<\/p>\n Perhaps you’ve made New Year’s resolutions that have something to do with fitness. If so, it helps to remember that there are no quick fixes. There is no such thing as easy.<\/p>\n Americans spend more than $40 billion a year on weight-loss products and services, and, according to the Federal Trade Commission, much of this stuff is bogus. A 2007 FTC survey of consumer fraud determined that Americans were more likely to be taken in by weight-loss scams than by any other type of fraud and that 4.8 million people were victims that year. Survey respondents stated that 20% didn’t even use the product, 34% lost no weight and 28% lost just a little weight.<\/p>\n This year, fine-tune your male-bovine-droppings detector. You can’t feel the love for a lie.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I’ve always liked Fell’s stuff, as he pulls no punches about what it really<\/em> takes to get – and stay –\u00a0 in shape. And the most important factor, IMHO, is time<\/strong>. It takes time to establish new habits; to build up your strength\/endurance; to find workouts\/exercises you enjoy; and to find sources of information you can trust. You’re more likely to be successful if you approach fitness as – in Fell’s words – “… a gradual, incremental progression toward awesome.”<\/p>\n 2. “New Year’s resolutions in the works? Small steps are best<\/a>.”\u00a0LAT reporter\u00a0Jeannine Stein frequently pens some good articles, and this one is no exception. The title pretty much says it all… and it’s an approach that I personally endorse<\/a>. Sure, some people can make\u00a0dramatic lifestyle changes, and make them stick… but for all too many others, it’s a recipe for (eventual) failure. As Stein puts it:<\/p>\n Most people start off the new year by making grand, sweeping changes \u2014 and the changes never stick. What does<\/em> stick? Thinking small: setting modest, attainable goals and slowly chalking up petite successes as you steadily build confidence. It’s a strategy that can lead to substantial and sustainable health improvements over time, as fitness and nutrition experts well know.<\/p>\n Not that there’s anything wrong with wanting to run a marathon or lose 50 pounds \u2014 but it’s not going to happen in a month, and when it doesn’t, people often feel a huge letdown and then throw in the towel.<\/p>\n …Why small steps? When you drastically cut out all fattening foods, you may bust out with a great big binge. Exercise too much and your unaccustomed muscles can suffer overuse injuries such as strains and sprains.<\/p>\n Or even more likely, psychological burnout sets in.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As they say, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If you haven’t been able to make major changes stick long-term, then maybe it’s time to think small.<\/p>\n