Resolved!

Eighty percent of New Year’s resolutions fail before January ends. Ninety percent of health and fitness resolutions are broken before mid-January.

Weight loss is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions made every year — and according to statistics from The Cooper Institute, a health-based nonprofit research and education center in Dallas, it’s a resolution made year after year.

Why? Experts say we tend to set unrealistic, sweeping goals — to lose 50, 70 or 100 pounds — and we fully expect to wake up Jan. 1 excited to exercise and cut calories.

Sounds simple, huh?

“It is simple,” said Colorado Springs resident Joyce Paywa. “But it’s not always easy.”

Paywa made a resolution two years ago to lose weight, and after 22 months of changing her lifestyle choices, she lost 70 pounds.

Debbie Broderick, also of Colorado Springs, made the same goal last winter — she wanted to lose a pesky 30 pounds that crept back after every fad diet she tried.

She got serious and held herself accountable. Eating healthfully and exercising wasn’t an option, it was an expectation.

Maureen Kaye, of Colorado Springs, doesn’t believe in New Year’s resolutions — she believes in hard work. After losing 65 pounds and keeping it off for a year and a half, she knows what she’s talking about.

These women say the key to keeping the big resolution is winning (and celebrating) small victories — such as passing up sweets for celery sticks, or choosing the stairs over the elevator. Eventually it adds up.

“It’s not that I never get tempted,” Paywa said. “I have to talk to myself and remind myself that, ‘It’s just a cookie. It will be there at the next party.’”

JOYCE PAYWA 39, UCCS STUDENT

Starting weight: 210 (she admits this isn’t her highest)

Current weight: 141

When did you decide you wanted to lose the weight? January 2005

Why?

Paywa received a Lands’ End jacket as a Christmas present, but discovered she couldn’t zip it. After an embarrassing phone call to the company, she realized that she had the biggest size they make — XL.

“It was just so humiliating,” she said. “I had to make a decision for myself — that no matter what, I was going to do what I needed to do to make a difference in my life.”

Paywa also didn’t want her 12-year-old daughter to copy mom.

“I was afraid she was going to follow in my footsteps,” Paywa said. “I wanted her to learn to eat healthier at a younger age.”

How did you stay motivated?

“I picked out an outfit that I really wanted to wear,” she said. “It wasn’t something way down the line, it was just like, ‘If I lose 10 pounds I’ll fit into this’. I put it in a place where I was reminded of it.” She also watches “The Biggest Loser,” a fitness reality TV show, and attends once-a-week Weight Watchers meetings.

What do you do for exercise?

She had to start slowly.

“At UCCS, I’d walk from the parking lot up to one of the buildings and I would be so out of breath I would have to call my husband and pretend I was talking,” she said. “I didn’t want anyone to see me so out of breath.”

She began with short walks, focusing on specific landmarks to reach. As time went on, she picked landmarks that were farther away.

She progressed to jogging, then running. She now regularly runs 5Ks (she’s run six so far), rides her bike, and attends kickboxing and Spinning classes. Her goal this year: complete a triathlon.

What about diet?

She eliminated junk foods she knew she’d binge on and stocked healthy alternatives. She hardly ever eats fast food. Her choices caught on — everyone, including the family dog, lost weight, she said. Her husband, who was also overweight, now teaches a Spinning class.

What clothing have you tossed?

Stretch pants.

As she lost weight, Paywa was able to fit into zip-up pants — something she had never done, she said. Recently, she visited Gloss, a high-end jean boutique at The Promenade Shops at Briargate, with her daughter, confident that “I didn’t have to worry about not fitting in a pair of jeans.”

Tips for people trying to lose weight?

Make a commitment, not excuses.

“I hear people coming up with one excuse or another, and I just want to shake them and say, ‘Enough!,’” she said. “I hate to see people where I’ve been.”

MAUREEN KAYE 43, MASSAGE THERAPIST

Starting weight: 225

Current weight: 159

When did you decide you wanted to lose the weight? August 2004

Why?

Kaye needed back surgery and the doctors recommended she lose weight. She decided to make a commitment to lose more than 10 or 15 pounds — she wanted to lose all of her extra weight, 65 pounds.

How did you stay motivated?

“When you start to become more fit, all of a sudden you can do these physical activities,” Kaye said. “All of a sudden I’m running up the side of a mountain and I’m not in pain.”

What do you do for exercise?

Kaye worked with a personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness for nine months before feeling comfortable enough to venture out on her own. Now she “periodically checks in with a trainer to brush up.”

She’s active every day, whether on the step machine, lifting weights, hiking, yoga or taking her dogs for a walk.

What about diet?

Knowing her weakness for sweets, she refuses to keep any in the house.

“I can’t even have ice cream and candy in the house,” she said. “If it’s there, I’m going to eat it.”

She also makes a conscious effort to load up on fruits and vegetables for the bulk of her diet.

What clothing have you tossed?

Everything except one pair of “fat” jeans, to remind her how far she’s come.

“I remember being size 22,” she said. Kaye is now an 8/10.

Tips for people trying to lose weight?

“It’s really a mindset,” she said. “It’s doing it so you can live and so you can go out and do things. It’s really making up your mind and making that decision.”

Eventually, Kaye said, it becomes routine. “It’s not a hobby,” she said. “It becomes part of your life. You don’t feel right anymore when you don’t work out.”

DEBBIE BRODERICK 53, REAL ESTATE AGENT

Starting weight: more than 180 pounds

Current weight: less than 150 When did you start losing weight? Winter 2006

Why?

Her father joined Weight Watchers to improve his health, and she offered to tag along for support. She focused on losing 30 pounds that came back since her last diet.

How did you stay motivated?

Broderick committed to a weekly Weight Watchers meeting and joined 24 Hour Fitness. Exercise became her motivator, she said. “It’s just part of my routine,” she said. “It’s a great way to start your day.”

What do you do for exercise?

Broderick works on an elliptical machine until she burns 300 calories, and lifts weights for 30 minutes — at least five times a week. “The most I’ll allow myself to miss is two days,” she said. “When I don’t go two days, I feel bad.”

What about diet?

She doesn’t deprive herself of sweets or highfat foods when she has a craving, but she’s conscious of her calories.

“I think I’ve done every diet there is in the book,” she said. The secret? “You just have to watch your intake.”

She also avoids drinking.

“You drink alcohol and then you want to eat,” Broderick said. “And not healthy — not fruits and vegetables.”

What clothing have you tossed?

Most of her “fat clothes,” though, she admits she still has some of her baggy outfits lying around. “I’ve really been trying to get them out of my closet because I’m not going back,” Broderick said. “The compliments, the way you feel about yourself — I know it’s just a healthier way. And going to the doctor and having him say, ‘I can’t find anything wrong with you’ — that’s great. I love that.”

Tips for people trying to lose weight?

“You can’t punish yourself for doing wrong,” she said. “We’re all going to go off of it. We have to say that tomorrow’s a new day, it’s a new beginning.”

RESOLUTIONS

Most resolutions fail because of their magnitude — goals are often so big and seem so unreachable that the goal-setter never begins, experts say.

Whatever your New Year’s resolution, the key to success is formulating realistic and obtainable goals, says Kristi Hensley, project coordinator for LiveWell Fountain, a local chapter of LiveWell Colorado, an organization that promotes healthful lifestyles.

When making a resolution, Hensley suggests considering the following:

- Avoid split-second goals that are often overwhelming — like deciding on New Year’s Eve that you’ll lose 50 pounds in 2008. If your goal is weight loss, set small, obtainable milestones.

- Hold yourself accountable. Let friends and family know of your goal, and often they’ll help by offering to exercise with you or checking in on your progress.

- Celebrate your success. Focus on the five pounds you lost, not the 25 you’re still working on.

- If you have a minor setback, don’t give up. One night of poor eating is not the end. Formulate a backup plan beforehand; like, if you overeat, you’ll work out longer the next day or eat fewer calories at your next meal.

- Tweak your plan as you go. If you experience a plateau in weight loss, try a new exercise or join a class.

- Find a friend or a support group with the same goals in mind. Having others to lean on and celebrate with often makes a resolution successful.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0152 or melissa.cassutt@gazette.com