Hey there,

Happy New Year's Eve! This time of year is always bittersweet for me. You get to look back on the previous year and reflect about things that were good and bad about the last 365 days. You realize all of the stupid mistakes that you've made, but you also realize the important lessons that you may have learned from those mistakes (hopefully).

For me, 2016 was a great year. I finally was able to start personal training full time, I got engaged to my best friend, and I basically got to do some really fun stuff throughout the year.

I'm a bit nervous about 2017 though. You see, this will be my first year as a personal trainer working in a gym during the New Years rush. You know, it's when people start their new years "resolutions" and end up joining the gym in hopes of finally making 2017 their year. It's finally the year that they're gong to get in shape, stop drinking, eat healthy, or whatever the hell it may be.

To me this is SUPER frustrating. Why would you wait until a new year starts to begin a healthier lifestyle? What's going to make this year any different than the last few?

I see it all the time. People get super pumped up about starting fresh on the Monday after new years and they have their meals prepped and ready to go for the week and they have their gym gear packed for after work. Sounds like they're on the path to success, right?

So after that first day of eating healthier and working out, they feel GREAT! But then the next day comes a long and they're pretty sore. Maybe they decide to skip the gym that day to rest up for the next. There's nothing wrong with that.

Then lunch time rolls around on that second day and they're reallyyy hungry. That healthy lunch they packed just isn't doing it. So they decide to go to the vending machine and get a little snack and a soda. Then they start to feel a bit guilty. "That's okay" they say to themselves, "just get back on track for supper".

But then, before you know it, they're running late at work and it was a really long day and they're tired and don't feel like making a healthy supper when they get home. So they end up going through a drive thru for some fast food. Sure, it tastes good and it's convenient but they can already feel themselves slipping down that familiar rabbit hole.

So later that night they think to themselves "screw it, I've already messed up my diet today" and they reach for the freezer to grab some ice cream. A few Netflix episodes later and that entire tub of ice cream is gone a long with a whole bag of chips (family size probably).

"Well, I have to meet up with friends after work on Wednesday so I won't be able to eat good, and then Thursday my friends invited me over for dinner and drinks, and this weekend i'll be out of town so I know that I won't eat good, so I might as well just start fresh on Monday"

Insert me doing an extremely painful wincing face

This is what's wrong with people. They believe that if they make one or two bad choices that their diet is completely RUINED. They get all upset and frustrated and end up pushing back their start date to next Monday...and then the next Monday....and the next...and so on and so fourth.

They get so caught up in thinking that every single meal needs to be perfect and if they slip up just one or two times that it's all over...

This is the quickest way to fail any type of diet.

So what if you had a few too many slices of pizza. Get over it and get back on track with the next meal. One bad meal does not equal one bad day or week. That's like saying, "oh my house is on fire, might as well pour some gasoline on it and let it burn to the ground. I'll get a new house on Monday."

Seriously, chill out about your diet. If you screw up then so what? It happens. Just get back on track. Don't beat yourself up over it.

You're in this for the long haul and solid results take TIME and CONSISTENCY. Stop delaying your results by pushing them back to the next day or next week.

Take control of the situation and make better choices. You know what's healthy and what's not healthy. Make the choice that will lead you to the results you want, but don't beat yourself up if you make the wrong choice every once in a while.

You CAN make 2017 your best year. You just have to decide if that's really what you want...

Are you happy with the way you are now?

Then do something to change it!

I'm here for you if you need someone to guide you through the process.

See you in 2017!